Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) Shares Pass Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL)’s stock price crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $40.30 and traded as high as $46.05. Global Ship Lease shares last traded at $45.7690, with a volume of 173,019 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Global Ship Lease Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 2.06, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The business’s 50 day moving average is $43.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.30.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The shipping company reported $2.48 EPS 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.67 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Global Ship Lease, Inc. will post 9.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Ship Lease Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.625 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 21st. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.5%. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.04%.

Insider Activity at Global Ship Lease

In related news, CFO Anastasios Psaropoulos sold 48,330 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.02, for a total transaction of $2,175,816.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 68,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,092,783.96. This trade represents a 41.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Thomas Lister sold 30,000 shares of Global Ship Lease stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.26, for a total value of $1,327,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,238.84. The trade was a 65.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 80,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,578,817 in the last ninety days. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Global Ship Lease

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GSL. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Global Ship Lease by 137.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 42,098 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $962,000 after purchasing an additional 24,333 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 66.1% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,715 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $124,000 after purchasing an additional 1,877 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 88.2% during the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 51,616 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,358,000 after purchasing an additional 24,196 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 459,791 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $12,097,000 after purchasing an additional 20,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Ship Lease by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 16,927 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $445,000 after buying an additional 1,127 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 50.08% of the company’s stock.

About Global Ship Lease

Global Ship Lease, Inc (NYSE: GSL) is a container vessel owner and charterer that provides seaborne transportation capacity to container shipping companies. The company owns and manages a fleet of containerships used to transport manufactured goods, consumer products, raw materials and other cargo in containers.

Global Ship Lease generally charters its vessels to liner companies under fixed-rate time charter agreements. Its customers operate the ships on international trade routes, while Global Ship Lease focuses on vessel ownership, commercial employment, technical management and maintaining the fleet.