Short Interest in Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) Increases By 26.9%

Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 889,200 shares, an increase of 26.9% from the February 13th total of 700,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 362,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days. Currently, 2.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Global Ship Lease from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of Global Ship Lease in a report on Wednesday, March 5th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 2.2% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 33,150 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $883,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the period. Moran Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Ship Lease during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,894,000. Foundry Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 45.2% during the third quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 475,956 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $12,684,000 after buying an additional 148,247 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd boosted its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 12.2% during the third quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 30,992 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $826,000 after buying an additional 3,377 shares during the period. Finally, Centiva Capital LP boosted its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 87.7% during the third quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 26,447 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $705,000 after buying an additional 12,354 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.08% of the company’s stock.

Global Ship Lease Price Performance

Shares of Global Ship Lease stock traded up $0.23 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $23.16. 244,489 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 446,300. The company has a market capitalization of $853.69 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.47. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.58. Global Ship Lease has a 52-week low of $19.22 and a 52-week high of $30.32.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 5th. The shipping company reported $2.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $182.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.71 million. Global Ship Lease had a return on equity of 27.88% and a net margin of 46.38%. Sell-side analysts expect that Global Ship Lease will post 9.74 EPS for the current year.

Global Ship Lease Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.77%. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.50%.

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.