Pale Fire Capital SE Purchases New Position in GoDaddy Inc. $GDDY

Key Points

• Pale Fire Capital SE acquired 127,179 GoDaddy shares worth approximately $10.8 million, giving it a 0.10% stake and making GoDaddy its 18th-largest holding. Institutional investors collectively own 90.28% of the company.
• GoDaddy’s latest quarter exceeded expectations, reporting $1.83 in adjusted earnings per share versus $1.69 expected and $1.30 billion in revenue versus $1.29 billion forecast; revenue rose 6.6% year over year.
• Analysts remain mixed, with a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $110.07, while multiple firms recently cut their targets. Investors also face potential legal and valuation risks from securities-fraud class-action allegations tied to customer-acquisition issues and a $4.99 domain promotion.

Pale Fire Capital SE acquired a new position in shares of GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE:GDDY - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 127,179 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $10,795,000. GoDaddy makes up approximately 0.3% of Pale Fire Capital SE's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Pale Fire Capital SE owned approximately 0.10% of GoDaddy at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GDDY. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in GoDaddy by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 945,202 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $117,281,000 after purchasing an additional 50,959 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of GoDaddy by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 553,300 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $45,741,000 after buying an additional 117,800 shares during the last quarter. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new stake in shares of GoDaddy in the 4th quarter valued at about $9,303,000. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of GoDaddy by 4.5% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 396,500 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $32,779,000 after buying an additional 17,100 shares during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor bought a new position in shares of GoDaddy during the second quarter worth about $28,938,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.28% of the company's stock.

GoDaddy News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting GoDaddy this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts have an average price target of approximately $110.07, above GoDaddy’s recent trading level. The consensus rating is “Hold,” with nine Buy ratings, eight Holds and one Sell, suggesting moderate potential upside but limited conviction. GoDaddy Analyst Price Target
• Positive Sentiment: GoDaddy’s latest reported quarter exceeded expectations, with earnings of $1.83 per share versus a $1.69 consensus estimate and revenue of $1.30 billion versus $1.29 billion expected. Revenue grew 6.6% year over year, supporting the company’s fundamental investment case.
• Neutral Sentiment: Director Leah Sweet sold 325 shares in transactions conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The sales totaled roughly $31,600 each and reduced her holdings by about 2.3%, making the activity relatively small but still potentially notable to investors monitoring insider sentiment. GoDaddy Director Share Sale
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms announced or promoted a securities-fraud class action against GoDaddy and certain executives. The case covers investors who purchased securities between September 3, 2025, and February 24, 2026, with an October 20, 2026 lead-plaintiff deadline. Rosen GoDaddy Class Action Notice
• Negative Sentiment: The complaints allege that GoDaddy failed to adequately disclose customer-acquisition problems and the effects of a $4.99 one-year domain promotion. Plaintiffs claim the promotion encouraged lower-value upfront bookings and conflicted with earlier statements that front-end discounting had been reduced. The allegations are unproven, but litigation may create legal costs, management distraction and valuation risk. GoDaddy Securities Fraud Class Action

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GDDY shares. B. Riley Financial cut their price objective on GoDaddy from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of GoDaddy to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of GoDaddy from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Wedbush cut their price target on shares of GoDaddy from $109.00 to $93.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on GoDaddy from $154.00 to $124.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $110.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at GoDaddy

In other news, CFO Mark Mccaffrey sold 3,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.92, for a total transaction of $290,220.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 105,728 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,766,965.76. The trade was a 3.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Amanpal Singh Bhutani sold 4,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.15, for a total transaction of $374,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 517,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,009,088.05. The trade was a 0.86% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,911 shares of company stock worth $935,291. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

GoDaddy Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:GDDY opened at $101.87 on Thursday. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $92.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.72. The firm has a market cap of $12.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.11, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 561.10, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. GoDaddy Inc. has a 52-week low of $71.59 and a 52-week high of $150.47.

GoDaddy (NYSE:GDDY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The technology company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. GoDaddy had a return on equity of 660.96% and a net margin of 17.83%.The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.41 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that GoDaddy Inc. will post 7.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About GoDaddy

GoDaddy is a technology company that provides a suite of online services aimed primarily at small businesses, entrepreneurs and individuals looking to establish and grow an online presence. The company's core activities include domain name registration and aftermarket services, a range of website hosting options, and tools for building, managing and promoting websites. Its product mix is designed to simplify the technical aspects of running a website so customers can focus on their businesses.

Product and service offerings span website builders and managed WordPress hosting, shared and dedicated hosting, e-commerce capabilities, email and productivity solutions, SSL certificates and site security tools, and online marketing and search engine optimization services.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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