Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) Lowered to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Global Ship Lease from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Finally, B. Riley Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Global Ship Lease from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Ship Lease presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.33.

Global Ship Lease Stock Performance

NYSE:GSL opened at $37.12 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $37.60 and its 200-day moving average is $34.15. Global Ship Lease has a 1-year low of $17.73 and a 1-year high of $41.40.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 6th. The shipping company reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $190.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $188.39 million. Global Ship Lease had a net margin of 54.33% and a return on equity of 22.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Global Ship Lease will post 9.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Ship Lease Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 24th were issued a dividend of $0.625 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 24th. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.7%. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.95%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Ship Lease

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GSL. SHP Wealth Management bought a new position in Global Ship Lease during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. DGS Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Global Ship Lease by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 46,459 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,628,000 after acquiring an additional 7,461 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Global Ship Lease by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 16,606 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $582,000 after acquiring an additional 1,712 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Global Ship Lease by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 20,973 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $735,000 after acquiring an additional 970 shares during the period. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 207,092 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $7,257,000 after acquiring an additional 31,578 shares in the last quarter. 50.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Global Ship Lease

Global Ship Lease (NYSE: GSL) is a Bermuda-based containership charter owner focused on acquiring, owning and leasing modern, fuel-efficient vessels to major liner operators. Founded in 2011 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange the same year, the company’s fleet primarily comprises post-Panamax containerships designed to serve the high-volume Asia–Europe and transpacific shipping lanes. By specializing in long-term charter agreements, Global Ship Lease aims to maintain stable revenue streams and minimize spot-market volatility.

The company’s business model centers on negotiating multi-year time charters with leading global shipping lines.