Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) Insider Sells $346,755.36 in Stock

Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) insider Georgios Giannopoulos sold 7,692 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.08, for a total transaction of $346,755.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Global Ship Lease Stock Down 1.7%

Global Ship Lease stock traded down $0.73 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $42.42. 83,692 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 337,057. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.06 and a current ratio of 2.13. The company has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a PE ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $44.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.28. Global Ship Lease, Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.81 and a 12 month high of $46.57.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The shipping company reported $2.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42 by $0.06. Global Ship Lease had a net margin of 49.10% and a return on equity of 19.92%. The business had revenue of $198.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $186.85 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.67 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Global Ship Lease, Inc. will post 9.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Ship Lease Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 21st were given a $0.6250 dividend. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 21st. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.04%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on GSL. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Global Ship Lease from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Global Ship Lease from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Global Ship Lease from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, B. Riley Financial lifted their price objective on Global Ship Lease from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Global Ship Lease currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GSL. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. purchased a new position in Global Ship Lease in the second quarter valued at about $27,859,000. First Trust Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease during the 1st quarter worth approximately $12,681,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Ship Lease by 65.5% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 294,674 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $10,971,000 after acquiring an additional 116,606 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease during the 1st quarter worth approximately $10,790,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 51.8% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 200,806 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $7,476,000 after acquiring an additional 68,535 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.08% of the company’s stock.

About Global Ship Lease

Global Ship Lease, Inc (NYSE:GSL) is a containership owner and charterer that provides maritime transportation capacity to liner companies. The company owns and manages a fleet of container vessels designed to transport manufactured goods, consumer products, industrial materials and other containerized cargo across international trade routes.

Global Ship Lease generally employs time-charter arrangements, under which its vessels are leased to container shipping companies for specified periods.