Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $24.42, but opened at $23.70. Global Ship Lease shares last traded at $24.00, with a volume of 60,137 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on GSL. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Clarkson Capital lowered Global Ship Lease from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Global Ship Lease from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

Global Ship Lease Trading Down 0.7 %

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $24.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.93. The stock has a market cap of $871.60 million, a P/E ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The shipping company reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $174.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $175.83 million. Global Ship Lease had a net margin of 46.38% and a return on equity of 27.88%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Global Ship Lease, Inc. will post 9.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Ship Lease Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.93%.

Institutional Trading of Global Ship Lease

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GSL. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. raised its position in Global Ship Lease by 62.0% during the 1st quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 2,533,701 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $51,434,000 after purchasing an additional 969,536 shares in the last quarter. Whitefort Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Global Ship Lease by 4.2% during the first quarter. Whitefort Capital Management LP now owns 1,977,224 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $40,138,000 after buying an additional 79,743 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 3,779.3% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,508,898 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $43,406,000 after acquiring an additional 1,470,002 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Global Ship Lease by 275.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,068,524 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $30,763,000 after acquiring an additional 783,963 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Global Ship Lease by 97.9% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 557,050 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $16,037,000 after acquiring an additional 275,500 shares in the last quarter. 50.08% of the stock is 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.