Graham Capital Management L.P. Buys Shares of 95,042 Global Net Lease, Inc. $GNL

Key Points

• Graham Capital Management L.P. has acquired a new stake of 95,042 shares in Global Net Lease, Inc. valued at approximately $764,000 during the first quarter of the year.
• Global Net Lease reported $0.24 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate of $0.20, despite a negative net margin of 43.75%.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.19, representing a 9.6% dividend yield and an annualized payout of $0.76.

Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Global Net Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GNL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 95,042 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $764,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Conversant Capital LLC purchased a new position in Global Net Lease during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $20,555,000. Ieq Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Net Lease by 26.4% during the 1st quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 63,804 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $513,000 after acquiring an additional 13,343 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Net Lease by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 538,628 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,331,000 after acquiring an additional 3,606 shares during the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc grew its holdings in shares of Global Net Lease by 34.4% in the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 97,593 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $778,000 after purchasing an additional 24,963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Global Net Lease by 55.2% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 36,265 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 12,895 shares during the last quarter. 61.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Global Net Lease Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE GNL traded up $0.03 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $8.22. The stock had a trading volume of 1,133,029 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,111,490. Global Net Lease, Inc. has a one year low of $6.51 and a one year high of $9.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $7.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.70 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a current ratio of 0.13.

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

Global Net Lease Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 11th were given a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 11th. Global Net Lease's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -52.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Nicholas S. Schorsch sold 300,000 shares of Global Net Lease stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.33, for a total transaction of $2,199,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 19,607,384 shares in the company, valued at $143,722,124.72. This trade represents a 1.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Edward M. Jr. Weil sold 150,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.61, for a total transaction of $1,141,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 584,053 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,444,643.33. This trade represents a 20.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,553,000 shares of company stock valued at $56,115,790 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.37% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on GNL. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $9.00 price objective on shares of Global Net Lease in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Global Net Lease from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $9.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Colliers Securities raised shares of Global Net Lease from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $12.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Global Net Lease from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $9.20.

Global Net Lease 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.