Franklin Resources Inc. Buys Shares of 16,917 Global Ship Lease, Inc. $GSL

Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new stake in Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 16,917 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $445,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GSL. Prospera Financial Services Inc lifted its stake in Global Ship Lease by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 11,023 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $290,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in Global Ship Lease by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,342 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $246,000 after acquiring an additional 584 shares in the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp increased its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 19,250 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $506,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 3.1% in the second quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 28,569 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $752,000 after purchasing an additional 868 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 11.2% in the second quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,450 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $249,000 after purchasing an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. 50.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Global Ship Lease Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:GSL opened at $36.49 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.31 billion, a PE ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.98. Global Ship Lease, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.73 and a 1 year high of $37.22. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $31.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.71.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The shipping company reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $192.67 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.36 million. Global Ship Lease had a return on equity of 23.98% and a net margin of 53.62%.Global Ship Lease’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 4th. Investors of record on Friday, November 21st were issued a $0.625 dividend. This is an increase from Global Ship Lease’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 21st. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.9%. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on GSL. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Global Ship Lease from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Global Ship Lease from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.50.

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.