Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the five research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $38.3333.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research downgraded Global Ship Lease from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. B. Riley Financial raised their price objective on Global Ship Lease from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Global Ship Lease from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Ship Lease

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GSL. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC increased its stake in Global Ship Lease by 75.2% in the second quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 123,718 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,255,000 after acquiring an additional 53,101 shares during the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP lifted its stake in Global Ship Lease by 192.2% during the third quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 53,602 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,646,000 after purchasing an additional 35,258 shares during the last quarter. Lonestar Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease in the 2nd quarter valued at $5,262,000. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease in the 2nd quarter valued at $445,000. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new position in shares of Global Ship Lease in the 3rd quarter valued at $456,000. 50.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Global Ship Lease Price Performance

NYSE:GSL opened at $35.96 on Tuesday. Global Ship Lease has a 52 week low of $17.73 and a 52 week high of $41.40. The firm has a market cap of $1.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.04.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The shipping company reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.01. Global Ship Lease had a net margin of 54.33% and a return on equity of 22.35%. The firm had revenue of $190.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $188.39 million. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Global Ship Lease will post 9.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Ship Lease Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 24th were paid a $0.625 dividend. This represents a $2.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 24th. Global Ship Lease’s payout ratio is 21.95%.

Global Ship Lease Company Profile

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.