Citigroup Inc. Increases Holdings in Global Net Lease, Inc. $GNL

Key Points

• Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Global Net Lease, Inc. by 8.6% in the first quarter, owning approximately 0.43% of the company, valued at about $8 million.
• Global Net Lease recently reported earnings of $0.24 EPS for the quarter, exceeding expectations, while facing a negative return on equity of -9.71%.
• Insider trading activity revealed that CEO Edward M. Jr. Weil sold 150,000 shares, marking a significant decrease in his ownership by 20.43%.

Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in Global Net Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GNL - Free Report) by 8.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 994,502 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 78,778 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.43% of Global Net Lease worth $7,996,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GNL. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Global Net Lease by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,575,498 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $26,101,000 after purchasing an additional 461,173 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Global Net Lease by 26.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,612,357 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $19,070,000 after purchasing an additional 544,719 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its stake in Global Net Lease by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,305,031 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $18,532,000 after purchasing an additional 20,450 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Global Net Lease by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,132,709 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $15,569,000 after acquiring an additional 141,845 shares during the period. Finally, Taconic Capital Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Global Net Lease during the 4th quarter worth $7,300,000. 61.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Global Net Lease Stock Performance

Shares of GNL traded down $0.0550 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $7.7450. The stock had a trading volume of 723,142 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,706,710. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.13 and a quick ratio of 0.13. Global Net Lease, Inc. has a 12 month low of $6.51 and a 12 month high of $9.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of -5.38 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $7.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.54.

Global Net Lease (NYSE:GNL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $124.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.38 million. Global Net Lease had a negative return on equity of 9.71% and a negative net margin of 43.75%. Analysts anticipate that Global Net Lease, Inc. will post 1.26 EPS for the current year.

Global Net Lease Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 11th were given a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 11th. Global Net Lease's dividend payout ratio is -52.78%.

Insider Activity at Global Net Lease

In related news, insider Nicholas S. Schorsch sold 7,103,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.43, for a total value of $52,775,290.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 19,907,384 shares of the company's stock, valued at $147,911,863.12. This represents a 26.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Edward M. Jr. Weil sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.61, for a total value of $1,141,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 584,053 shares in the company, valued at $4,444,643.33. This trade represents a 20.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 7,553,000 shares of company stock worth $56,115,790. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GNL shares. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $9.00 price objective on shares of Global Net Lease in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Colliers Securities raised Global Net Lease from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $12.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Global Net Lease from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $9.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $9.20.

Global Net Lease Company Profile

Global Net Lease, Inc NYSE: GNL is a publicly traded real estate investment trust listed on the NYSE. The firm focused on acquiring a diversified global portfolio of commercial properties, with an emphasis on sale-leaseback transactions involving single tenant, mission critical income producing net-leased assets across the United States, Western and Northern Europe.