JPMorgan Chase & Co. Boosts Stock Position in Global Ship Lease, Inc. $GSL

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 168,327 shares of the shipping company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,424 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Global Ship Lease were worth $5,168,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GSL. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC increased its stake in Global Ship Lease by 75.2% during the second quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 123,718 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $3,255,000 after purchasing an additional 53,101 shares during the period. ARGA Investment Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Global Ship Lease by 192.2% in the third quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 53,602 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,646,000 after purchasing an additional 35,258 shares during the period. Lonestar Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Ship Lease in the second quarter valued at approximately $5,262,000. Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new stake in Global Ship Lease during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $445,000. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new stake in Global Ship Lease during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $456,000. 50.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on GSL. Zacks Research lowered shares of Global Ship Lease from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. B. Riley Financial upped their price objective on Global Ship Lease from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Global Ship Lease from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.33.

Global Ship Lease Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE GSL opened at $37.68 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $38.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.78. The company has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.96. Global Ship Lease, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.73 and a 1 year high of $41.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 2.00.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The shipping company reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.01. Global Ship Lease had a return on equity of 22.35% and a net margin of 54.33%.The business had revenue of $190.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $188.39 million. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Global Ship Lease, Inc. will post 9.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Ship Lease Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 24th were paid a $0.625 dividend. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.6%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 24th. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.95%.

Global Ship Lease Company Profile

Global Ship Lease (NYSE: GSL) is a Bermuda-based containership charter owner focused on acquiring, owning and leasing modern, fuel-efficient vessels to major liner operators. Founded in 2011 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange the same year, the company’s fleet primarily comprises post-Panamax containerships designed to serve the high-volume Asia–Europe and transpacific shipping lanes. By specializing in long-term charter agreements, Global Ship Lease aims to maintain stable revenue streams and minimize spot-market volatility.

The company’s business model centers on negotiating multi-year time charters with leading global shipping lines.