Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Buy

StockNews.com cut shares of Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research note on Monday, March 4th.

Global Ship Lease Stock Performance

Shares of GSL stock opened at $22.81 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market cap of $802.51 million, a PE ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $20.57 and a 200-day moving average of $19.66. Global Ship Lease has a one year low of $16.80 and a one year high of $22.97.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 4th. The shipping company reported $2.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $178.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $171.54 million. Global Ship Lease had a return on equity of 29.87% and a net margin of 45.12%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.14 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Global Ship Lease will post 9.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Ship Lease Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.58%. Global Ship Lease’s payout ratio is 18.01%.

Institutional Trading of Global Ship Lease

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GSL. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. increased its stake in Global Ship Lease by 235.9% during the 4th quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 1,564,165 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $31,002,000 after purchasing an additional 1,098,558 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd acquired a new position in Global Ship Lease during the 4th quarter worth approximately $21,588,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Global Ship Lease by 287.1% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 94,823 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,879,000 after acquiring an additional 70,329 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Global Ship Lease during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,261,000. Finally, ARGA Investment Management LP acquired a new position in Global Ship Lease during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,227,000. 50.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Global Ship Lease Company Profile

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.