Donald Smith & CO. Inc. Raises Stake in Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL)

Donald Smith & CO. Inc. increased its position in shares of Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) by 235.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,564,165 shares of the shipping company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,098,558 shares during the quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc.’s holdings in Global Ship Lease were worth $31,002,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whittier Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Global Ship Lease by 87.6% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,024 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 945 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Global Ship Lease by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,808 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $217,000 after acquiring an additional 1,264 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Global Ship Lease in the fourth quarter worth approximately $218,000. Finally, MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in Global Ship Lease in the third quarter valued at approximately $221,000. 50.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Global Ship Lease from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Global Ship Lease in a research report on Monday, March 4th.

Global Ship Lease Stock Performance

Shares of Global Ship Lease stock traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $23.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 714,201 shares, compared to its average volume of 673,012. The stock has a market cap of $809.19 million, a P/E ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.50. Global Ship Lease, Inc. has a one year low of $16.80 and a one year high of $23.06. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 4th. The shipping company reported $2.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $178.89 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $171.54 million. Global Ship Lease had a return on equity of 29.87% and a net margin of 45.12%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.14 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Global Ship Lease, Inc. will post 9.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Ship Lease Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Global Ship Lease’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.01%.

Global Ship Lease 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.