GoDaddy (NYSE:GDDY) Stock Jumps 3.6% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• GoDaddy shares rose 3.6% to about $100.75, although trading volume was 96% below the average daily level.
• The company’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with adjusted EPS of $1.83 versus $1.69 expected and revenue of $1.30 billion, up 6.6% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: GoDaddy has an average “Hold” rating and a consensus price target of $110.69, while several firms recently lowered their targets and insiders sold shares under pre-arranged plans.

GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE:GDDY - Get Free Report) shares rose 3.6% on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $100.27 and last traded at $100.7530. 96,821 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 96% from the average daily volume of 2,291,402 shares. The stock had previously closed at $97.21.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GDDY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered GoDaddy from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $80.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Wedbush cut their price objective on shares of GoDaddy from $109.00 to $93.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of GoDaddy to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of GoDaddy from $154.00 to $124.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of GoDaddy from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, September 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $110.69.

GoDaddy Stock Performance

The stock's 50-day moving average price is $96.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.60. The company has a market capitalization of $12.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.00 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 (NYSE:GDDY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The technology company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business 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 EPS. The business's revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that GoDaddy Inc. will post 7.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at GoDaddy

In other news, Director Sigal Zarmi sold 350 shares of GoDaddy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.44, for a total transaction of $34,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 8,283 shares in the company, valued at $807,095.52. The trade was a 4.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Mark McCaffrey sold 5,873 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.91, for a total value of $592,644.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 99,855 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,076,368.05. This trade represents a 5.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 31,358 shares of company stock valued at $3,031,831. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GoDaddy

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in GoDaddy by 1.0% in the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,314,456 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $270,924,000 after acquiring an additional 33,509 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of GoDaddy by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,216,382 shares of the technology company's stock worth $399,089,000 after purchasing an additional 319,515 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of GoDaddy by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,821,379 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $350,077,000 after purchasing an additional 56,086 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of GoDaddy by 27.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,383,615 shares of the technology company's stock worth $114,383,000 after purchasing an additional 302,126 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in GoDaddy by 67.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,256,998 shares of the technology company's stock worth $155,968,000 after purchasing an additional 504,374 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.28% of the company's stock.

About GoDaddy

GoDaddy Inc NYSE: GDDY is a technology company that provides domain name registration and online services for individuals, entrepreneurs, and small businesses. Its platform enables customers to search for and manage domain names, establish an online presence, and build and maintain websites.

The company offers website and ecommerce tools, managed web hosting, business email, online marketing services, and website security products. GoDaddy also provides tools designed to help businesses manage digital content, customer engagement, appointments, payments, and other day-to-day online activities through an integrated platform.

Founded in 1997 as Jomax Technologies by entrepreneur Bob Parsons, the company later adopted the GoDaddy name and grew into a global provider of online 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.