GoDaddy (NYSE:GDDY) Trading 1.2% Higher – Still a Buy?

GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE:GDDY) shares shot up 1.2% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $205.05 and last traded at $202.50. 221,442 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 1,450,151 shares. The stock had previously closed at $200.13.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on GDDY. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of GoDaddy from $172.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on GoDaddy from $175.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Benchmark boosted their target price on GoDaddy from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. B. Riley raised their price target on GoDaddy from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $170.00 price target on shares of GoDaddy in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $181.57.

GoDaddy Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $28.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.61, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $183.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $161.83.

GoDaddy (NYSE:GDDY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. GoDaddy had a net margin of 41.74% and a return on equity of 267.29%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that GoDaddy Inc. will post 4.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other GoDaddy news, CAO Phontip Palitwanon sold 770 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.64, for a total value of $151,412.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,059 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,321.76. This represents a 3.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Brian Sharples sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.00, for a total value of $89,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,317,659. This represents a 2.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,503 shares of company stock worth $4,158,033. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GoDaddy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of GoDaddy in the third quarter worth $27,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in GoDaddy in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in GoDaddy in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of GoDaddy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in GoDaddy during the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. 90.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About GoDaddy

GoDaddy Inc engages in the design and development of cloud-based products in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: Applications and Commerce, and Core Platform. The Applications and Commerce segment provides applications products, including Websites + Marketing, a mobile-optimized online tool that enables customers to build websites and e-commerce enabled online stores; and Managed WordPress, a streamlined and optimized website building that allows customers to easily build and manage a faster WordPress site; Managed WooCommerce Stores to sell anything and anywhere online; and marketing tools and services, such as GoDaddy Studio mobile application, search engine optimization, Meta and Google My Business, and email and social media marketing designed to help businesses acquire and engage customers and create content.