Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the five analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $46.50.

A number of research firms have commented on GSL. Zacks Research upgraded Global Ship Lease from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Fearnley Fonds upgraded Global Ship Lease from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Global Ship Lease in a research report on Friday, April 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Global Ship Lease in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Global Ship Lease from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 30th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Ship Lease

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GSL. Royal Palms Capital LLC acquired a new position in Global Ship Lease during the fourth quarter worth $3,665,000. First Trust Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease in the first quarter valued at $12,681,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Ship Lease by 100.1% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 56,817 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,991,000 after buying an additional 28,425 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease in the 4th quarter valued at $949,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 65.5% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 294,674 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $10,971,000 after buying an additional 116,606 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.08% of the company’s stock.

Global Ship Lease Stock Down 0.0%

GSL stock opened at $44.34 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a PE ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a current ratio of 2.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $39.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.88. Global Ship Lease has a one year low of $27.28 and a one year high of $44.69.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 22nd. The shipping company reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $198.08 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $182.87 million. Global Ship Lease had a return on equity of 21.11% and a net margin of 50.01%.Global Ship Lease’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Global Ship Lease will post 9.5 EPS for the current year.

Global Ship Lease Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were paid a $0.625 dividend. This represents a $2.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. Global Ship Lease’s payout ratio is 23.74%.

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.