Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $51.00 According to Analysts

Shares of Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) have been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the five brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $51.00.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GSL shares. B. Riley Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Global Ship Lease from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Global Ship Lease from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research upgraded Global Ship Lease from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Global Ship Lease from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th.

Global Ship Lease Stock Performance

NYSE:GSL opened at $44.32 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $44.00 and its 200 day moving average is $40.67. Global Ship Lease has a fifty-two week low of $27.28 and a fifty-two week high of $46.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a PE ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.06 and a current ratio of 2.13.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The shipping company reported $2.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $198.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.85 million. Global Ship Lease had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 49.10%.Global Ship Lease’s revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.67 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Ship Lease will post 9.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Ship Lease Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 21st were issued a $0.6250 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 21st. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%. Global Ship Lease’s payout ratio is currently 24.04%.

Insider Activity at Global Ship Lease

In other news, CFO Anastasios Psaropoulos sold 48,330 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 68,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,092,783.96. This represents a 41.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Thomas Lister sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.26, for a total transaction of $1,327,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,238.84. This represents a 65.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 80,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,578,817 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Global Ship Lease

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GSL. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Global Ship Lease in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,859,000. First Trust Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease during the 1st quarter worth $12,681,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Global Ship Lease by 65.5% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 294,674 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $10,971,000 after purchasing an additional 116,606 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in Global Ship Lease during the first quarter valued at about $10,790,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Global Ship Lease by 51.8% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 200,806 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $7,476,000 after purchasing an additional 68,535 shares during the last quarter. 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.