Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $36.88 and last traded at $36.9550, with a volume of 41762 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $36.18.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GSL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Global Ship Lease from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Global Ship Lease from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $33.50.

Global Ship Lease Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $31.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.63. The firm has a market cap of $1.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a current ratio of 2.19.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 12th. The shipping company reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $192.67 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $180.36 million. Global Ship Lease had a net margin of 53.62% and a return on equity of 23.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Global Ship Lease, Inc. will post 9.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Ship Lease Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st were issued a $0.625 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 21st. This represents a $2.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. This is a boost from Global Ship Lease’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.44%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Ship Lease

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in Global Ship Lease in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 77.2% in the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 989 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Ship Lease in the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Avion Wealth bought a new position in shares of Global Ship Lease during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. 50.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Global Ship Lease

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.