Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Global Ship Lease has a consensus “Buy” rating from five analysts, with three buys, one strong buy, and one hold. The average 12-month price target is $51, compared with a share price of $45.49.
• The company beat quarterly expectations, reporting $2.48 in EPS versus a $2.42 consensus and revenue of $198.69 million versus $186.85 million expected. Revenue increased 3.9% year over year.
• Global Ship Lease paid a quarterly dividend of $0.625 per share, representing a 5.5% annualized yield. Meanwhile, the CEO and CFO sold a combined 80,000 shares worth approximately $3.58 million during the latest quarter.

Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $51.00.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Global Ship Lease from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Global Ship Lease in a report on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Global Ship Lease from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. B. Riley Financial upped 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. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Global Ship Lease from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th.

Global Ship Lease Price Performance

Shares of GSL opened at $45.49 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.06, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Global Ship Lease has a fifty-two week low of $27.28 and a fifty-two week high of $46.57. The company has a market cap of $1.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.88. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $43.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.53.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The shipping company reported $2.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.42 by $0.06. Global Ship Lease had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 49.10%.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 firm earned $2.67 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Global Ship Lease will post 9.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Ship Lease Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 (DPR) is presently 24.04%.

Insider Transactions at Global Ship Lease

In other news, CEO Thomas Lister sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 15,934 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $705,238.84. The trade was a 65.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Anastasios Psaropoulos sold 48,330 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.02, for a total value of $2,175,816.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 68,698 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,092,783.96. This trade represents a 41.30% 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 worth $3,578,817 in the last quarter.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Ship Lease

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GSL. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in Global Ship Lease during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $389,000. Corient Private Wealth LP increased its stake in Global Ship Lease by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 15,409 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $579,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Global Ship Lease in the 2nd quarter valued at $103,000. Secure Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Ship Lease during the second quarter worth about $212,000. Finally, Navellier & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Global Ship Lease during the second quarter worth about $1,857,000. Hedge funds and other 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.