Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Purchases 19,838 Shares of Global Ship Lease, Inc. $GSL

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its position in Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) by 21.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 111,929 shares of the shipping company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,838 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned 0.31% of Global Ship Lease worth $4,167,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GSL. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Global Ship Lease by 137.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 42,098 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $962,000 after buying an additional 24,333 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Global Ship Lease by 66.1% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,715 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $124,000 after purchasing an additional 1,877 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 88.2% during the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 51,616 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,358,000 after purchasing an additional 24,196 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Global Ship Lease by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 459,791 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $12,097,000 after purchasing an additional 20,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in Global Ship Lease by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 16,927 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $445,000 after purchasing an additional 1,127 shares in the last quarter. 50.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on GSL. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Global Ship Lease from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Zacks Research raised Global Ship Lease from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Fearnley Fonds upgraded Global Ship Lease from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Global Ship Lease in a report on Friday, April 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Global Ship Lease in a report on Friday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Global Ship Lease has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.50.

Global Ship Lease Price Performance

Global Ship Lease stock opened at $43.31 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $39.28 and its 200 day moving average is $38.76. Global Ship Lease, Inc. has a one year low of $27.28 and a one year high of $43.92. The firm has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.26 and a quick ratio of 2.21.

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 22nd. The shipping company reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $198.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $182.87 million. Global Ship Lease had a net margin of 50.01% and a return on equity of 21.11%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Global Ship Lease, Inc. will post 9.5 EPS for the current year.

Global Ship Lease Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 22nd were issued a $0.625 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.8%. Global Ship Lease’s payout ratio is presently 23.74%.

About Global Ship Lease

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.