Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Strong-Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Global Ship Lease from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th.

Global Ship Lease Trading Down 2.4 %

GSL stock opened at $29.41 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.64. Global Ship Lease has a twelve month low of $16.80 and a twelve month high of $30.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The business has a fifty day moving average of $26.29 and a 200-day moving average of $22.41.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The shipping company reported $2.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $179.56 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.70 million. Global Ship Lease had a return on equity of 29.44% and a net margin of 46.30%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Global Ship Lease will post 9.61 EPS for the current year.

Global Ship Lease Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 24th were issued a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.10%. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.95%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Ship Lease

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Global Ship Lease by 87.6% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,024 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 945 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Global Ship Lease by 12.0% in the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,808 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $217,000 after acquiring an additional 1,264 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Global Ship Lease by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,189 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $440,000 after acquiring an additional 1,620 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. acquired a new position in Global Ship Lease in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in Global Ship Lease by 14.8% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 15,832 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 2,038 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 50.08% of the company’s stock.

About Global Ship Lease

Global Ship Lease, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in owning and chartering of containerships under fixed-rate charters to container shipping companies worldwide. As of March 11, 2024, it owned 68 mid-sized and smaller containerships, ranging from 2,207 to 11,040 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU), with an aggregate capacity of 375,406 TEU.