Global Ship Lease, Inc. $GSL Shares Sold by Acadian Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Acadian Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Global Ship Lease by 15.6%, selling 223,969 shares and now owns 1,215,851 shares valued at approximately $27.76 million.
• Global Ship Lease's quarterly earnings beat estimates, reporting $2.67 earnings per share against a consensus of $2.15, and it recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.53 to $0.5469 per share.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for Global Ship Lease, with Jefferies maintaining a "buy" rating and a target price of $33.00, while Clarkson Capital downgraded their rating from "strong-buy" to "hold".

Acadian Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL - Free Report) by 15.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,215,851 shares of the shipping company's stock after selling 223,969 shares during the quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC owned approximately 3.43% of Global Ship Lease worth $27,757,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GSL. Stifel Financial Corp bought a new stake in Global Ship Lease in the 4th quarter valued at $342,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 92,003 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $2,008,000 after buying an additional 2,373 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 54,594 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $1,192,000 after buying an additional 8,415 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 23.5% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 42,522 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $928,000 after buying an additional 8,098 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whitefort Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Whitefort Capital Management LP now owns 369,768 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $8,072,000 after buying an additional 2,997 shares during the last quarter. 50.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on GSL. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $33.00 price objective on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Global Ship Lease from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Clarkson Capital lowered shares of Global Ship Lease from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $28.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Global Ship Lease currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $30.50.

Global Ship Lease Stock Performance

NYSE GSL traded down $0.46 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $32.07. 117,739 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 374,970. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.01. The company has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.12. Global Ship Lease, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.73 and a 1 year high of $33.05. The business's 50 day moving average is $29.59 and its 200-day moving average is $25.57.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The shipping company reported $2.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.52. The business had revenue of $191.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $177.98 million. Global Ship Lease had a net margin of 53.09% and a return on equity of 24.81%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Global Ship Lease, Inc. will post 9.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Ship Lease Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 24th will be paid a $0.5469 dividend. This is an increase from Global Ship Lease's previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.8%. Global Ship Lease's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.50%.

Global Ship Lease 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.