Norges Bank Purchases New Position in GoDaddy Inc. $GDDY

Norges Bank acquired a new position in GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE:GDDY) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,014,994 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $250,020,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GDDY. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in GoDaddy by 47.0% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,532,548 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $483,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128,646 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its holdings in GoDaddy by 99.7% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,631,100 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $223,183,000 after purchasing an additional 814,360 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in GoDaddy by 318.6% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 735,452 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $100,632,000 after purchasing an additional 559,757 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in GoDaddy by 433.9% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 645,754 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $80,125,000 after purchasing an additional 524,811 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in GoDaddy by 85.2% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 894,243 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $122,359,000 after purchasing an additional 411,349 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GDDY shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of GoDaddy from $140.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Benchmark dropped their target price on shares of GoDaddy from $195.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of GoDaddy from $195.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Evercore set a $95.00 target price on shares of GoDaddy in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of GoDaddy from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $120.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Phontip Palitwanon sold 1,310 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total transaction of $118,096.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 20,349 shares in the company, valued at $1,834,462.35. This represents a 6.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 1,338 shares of company stock worth $120,593 in the last 90 days. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

GoDaddy Stock Down 4.5%

Shares of GoDaddy stock opened at $88.76 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $11.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s 50 day moving average is $85.47 and its 200 day moving average is $100.65. GoDaddy Inc. has a twelve month low of $73.06 and a twelve month high of $183.34. 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 (NYSE:GDDY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. GoDaddy had a net margin of 17.32% and a return on equity of 366.90%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.51 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that GoDaddy Inc. will post 7.17 EPS for the current 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.