GoDaddy Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:GDDY)

GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE:GDDY) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors acquired 11,680 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 493% compared to the average volume of 1,969 put options.

GoDaddy Price Performance

GDDY opened at $82.79 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $86.64 and a 200 day moving average of $88.79. The stock has a market cap of $10.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.28, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.86. GoDaddy has a 52-week low of $71.59 and a 52-week high of $165.11.

GoDaddy (NYSE:GDDY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The technology company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. GoDaddy had a return on equity of 501.82% and a net margin of 17.83%.The business had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that GoDaddy will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Sigal Zarmi sold 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.84, for a total value of $30,744.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $501,390.72. This trade represents a 5.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Phontip Palitwanon sold 542 shares of GoDaddy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.86, for a total value of $48,704.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 19,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,796,750.70. This trade represents a 2.64% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 16,751 shares of company stock valued at $1,480,228. Insiders own 0.93% 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 GDDY. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of GoDaddy in the fourth quarter valued at about $250,020,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in GoDaddy by 117.5% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,989,931 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $370,991,000 after acquiring an additional 1,615,005 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its holdings in GoDaddy by 99.7% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,631,100 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $223,183,000 after acquiring an additional 814,360 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its position in GoDaddy by 433.9% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 645,754 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $80,125,000 after purchasing an additional 524,811 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 valued at $155,968,000 after purchasing an additional 504,374 shares during the period. 90.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key GoDaddy News

Here are the key news stories impacting GoDaddy this week:

• Positive Sentiment: GoDaddy reported second-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.83 per share, above the roughly $1.69–$1.72 consensus range, while revenue rose 6.6% year over year to approximately $1.30 billion, slightly exceeding estimates. GoDaddy Q2 Earnings and Revenues Surpass Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Growth was supported by rising average revenue per user, strength across both business segments and accelerating adoption of Airo, GoDaddy’s AI-powered product suite. Airo’s annualized recurring revenue reportedly increased fivefold to $50 million, helping drive record margins and free cash flow. GoDaddy Q2 Earnings Call Highlights
• Positive Sentiment: Management forecast third-quarter revenue of $1.315 billion to $1.335 billion and reaffirmed its approximately $1.8 billion full-year free-cash-flow target. Full-year revenue guidance remains $5.2 billion to $5.3 billion. GoDaddy Forecasts Q3 Revenue and Reaffirms Free Cash Flow
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst views remain mixed. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a Neutral rating with a $90 target, while Benchmark maintained Buy despite reducing its target to $140. Raymond James cut GoDaddy from Strong Buy to Outperform and set a $100 target, citing limited visibility. Raymond James Analyst Action
• Negative Sentiment: Investors viewed the quarterly outlook as underwhelming relative to expectations, with several reports describing the guidance as weak despite the earnings beat. Concerns also persist that AI could pressure GoDaddy’s traditional website and domain businesses and weigh on future margins. GoDaddy Goes Down After Q2 Results and Outlook
• Negative Sentiment: Bearish trading activity intensified, with put-option volume reaching 11,680 contracts—nearly five times the typical daily level. Separate law-firm investigations into potential securities-law violations added another source of investor uncertainty.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on GoDaddy from $154.00 to $124.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. B. Riley Financial cut their price objective on shares of GoDaddy from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of GoDaddy in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. William Blair downgraded shares of GoDaddy from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $95.00 target price (up from $93.00) on shares of GoDaddy in a report on Friday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.93.

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.