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

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

Institutional Trading of Global Ship Lease

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Global Ship Lease by 69.0% in the 4th quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 3,139,470 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $68,535,000 after buying an additional 1,281,941 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Ship Lease by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 629,750 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $13,747,000 after buying an additional 162,900 shares during the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Ship Lease by 45.2% in the 3rd quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 475,956 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $12,684,000 after buying an additional 148,247 shares during the last quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Ship Lease in the 3rd quarter worth $2,894,000. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP boosted its stake in shares of Global Ship Lease by 46.7% in the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 183,684 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $4,010,000 after buying an additional 58,470 shares during the last quarter. 50.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on GSL. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com downgraded Global Ship Lease from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th.

Global Ship Lease Stock Up 1.0 %

GSL traded up $0.23 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $23.16. 244,489 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 446,300. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Global Ship Lease has a 12-month low of $19.22 and a 12-month high of $30.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $853.69 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.47.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The shipping company reported $2.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.25. Global Ship Lease had a return on equity of 27.88% and a net margin of 46.38%. The business had revenue of $182.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.71 million. Analysts predict that Global Ship Lease will post 9.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Ship Lease Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 18.50%.

Global Ship Lease Company Profile

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.