Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.53 Per Share

Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, May 12th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of 0.525 per share by the shipping company on Tuesday, June 3rd. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This is a 16.7% increase from Global Ship Lease’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45.

Global Ship Lease has raised its dividend payment by an average of 28.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 1 years. Global Ship Lease has a payout ratio of 19.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Global Ship Lease to earn $9.40 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 19.1%.

Global Ship Lease Stock Performance

Shares of Global Ship Lease stock opened at $25.62 on Wednesday. Global Ship Lease has a one year low of $17.73 and a one year high of $30.32. The company has a market cap of $908.15 million, a PE ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 1.64. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.15.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 19th. The shipping company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $190.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $171.73 million. Global Ship Lease had a return on equity of 27.88% and a net margin of 46.38%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.53 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Global Ship Lease will post 9.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Clarkson Capital upgraded Global Ship Lease from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Global Ship Lease from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Global Ship Lease from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th.

Institutional Trading of Global Ship Lease

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Global Ship Lease stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) by 137.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,098 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,333 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of Global Ship Lease worth $962,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.08% of the company’s stock.

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.