Donald Smith & CO. Inc. Takes $27.86 Million Position in Global Ship Lease, Inc. $GSL

Key Points

• Donald Smith & Co. bought 740,941 Global Ship Lease shares worth approximately $27.86 million, giving the firm a 2.06% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 50.08% of GSL.
• Analysts remain broadly optimistic, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $51. Jefferies and B. Riley recently raised their targets to $50 and $52, respectively.
• Global Ship Lease beat quarterly expectations with $2.48 EPS and $198.69 million in revenue, while declaring a quarterly dividend of $0.625 per share. The annualized dividend is $2.50, representing a 5.7% yield.

Donald Smith & CO. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 740,941 shares of the shipping company's stock, valued at approximately $27,859,000. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. owned about 2.06% of Global Ship Lease at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its stake in Global Ship Lease by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 626,787 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $19,242,000 after purchasing an additional 16,188 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Global Ship Lease by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 613,287 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $16,136,000 after purchasing an additional 31,047 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its stake in shares of Global Ship Lease by 23.4% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 567,442 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $17,420,000 after purchasing an additional 107,651 shares during the period. CSM Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. CSM Advisors LLC now owns 446,060 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $15,629,000 after buying an additional 13,141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Global Ship Lease in the 1st quarter worth about $12,681,000. 50.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GSL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Global Ship Lease from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. B. Riley Financial boosted their target price on shares of Global Ship Lease from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Fearnley Fonds raised shares of Global Ship Lease from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Global Ship Lease from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Global Ship Lease from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $51.00.

Global Ship Lease Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of GSL opened at $43.74 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $40.93 and a 200 day moving average of $39.52. Global Ship Lease, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.28 and a fifty-two week high of $44.69. The firm has a market cap of $1.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.06 and a current ratio of 2.13.

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

Global Ship Lease Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 21st will be paid a $0.625 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 21st. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.7%. Global Ship Lease's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.04%.

Global Ship Lease Profile

Global Ship Lease NYSE: GSL is a Bermuda-based containership charter owner focused on acquiring, owning and leasing modern, fuel-efficient vessels to major liner operators. Founded in 2011 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange the same year, the company’s fleet primarily comprises post-Panamax containerships designed to serve the high-volume Asia–Europe and transpacific shipping lanes. By specializing in long-term charter agreements, Global Ship Lease aims to maintain stable revenue streams and minimize spot-market volatility.

The company’s business model centers on negotiating multi-year time charters with leading global shipping lines.

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