Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Posted by Francis Steltz on Sep 19th, 2026

Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL – Get Free Report)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $46.57 and last traded at $46.50, with a volume of 139958 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $45.40.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on GSL shares. Zacks Research upgraded Global Ship Lease from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Global Ship Lease from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Global Ship Lease from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, B. Riley Financial upped their target price on Global Ship Lease from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $51.00.

View Our Latest Research Report on Global Ship Lease

Global Ship Lease Trading Down 0.5%

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.50. The company has a market cap of $1.65 billion, a PE ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The shipping company reported $2.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.42 by $0.06. Global Ship Lease had a net margin of 49.10% and a return on equity of 19.92%. The business had revenue of $198.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $186.85 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.67 EPS. Global Ship Lease’s revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Global Ship Lease, Inc. will post 9.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Ship Lease Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 21st were given a $0.625 dividend. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 21st. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.04%.

Insider Transactions at Global Ship Lease

In other news, CFO Anastasios Psaropoulos sold 48,330 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.02, for a total transaction of $2,175,816.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 68,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,092,783.96. This trade represents a 41.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Thomas Lister sold 30,000 shares of Global Ship Lease stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.26, for a total value of $1,327,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,238.84. This represents a 65.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 80,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,578,817 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Global Ship Lease

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. acquired a new position in Global Ship Lease during the 2nd quarter worth $27,859,000. First Trust Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease in the first quarter valued at about $12,681,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease in the first quarter valued at about $10,790,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Global Ship Lease by 225.9% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 185,168 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $6,894,000 after purchasing an additional 128,351 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Global Ship Lease by 65.5% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 294,674 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $10,971,000 after purchasing an additional 116,606 shares during the period. 50.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Global Ship Lease Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Global Ship Lease, Inc (NYSE: GSL) is a container vessel owner and charterer that provides seaborne transportation capacity to container shipping companies. The company owns and manages a fleet of containerships used to transport manufactured goods, consumer products, raw materials and other cargo in containers.

Global Ship Lease generally charters its vessels to liner companies under fixed-rate time charter agreements. Its customers operate the ships on international trade routes, while Global Ship Lease focuses on vessel ownership, commercial employment, technical management and maintaining the fleet.