Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for GoDaddy (NYSE:GDDY) Stock

GoDaddy (NYSE:GDDY) had its price objective boosted by Morgan Stanley from $227.00 to $228.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on GDDY. Piper Sandler raised their price target on GoDaddy from $176.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price objective (up previously from $190.00) on shares of GoDaddy in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. B. Riley lifted their target price on shares of GoDaddy from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of GoDaddy from $185.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of GoDaddy from $240.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, GoDaddy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $213.20.

GoDaddy Stock Performance

Shares of GDDY opened at $182.58 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.63 billion, a PE ratio of 14.11 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.61, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.56. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $204.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $179.81. GoDaddy has a 52 week low of $108.02 and a 52 week high of $216.00.

GoDaddy (NYSE:GDDY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The technology company reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.43 by ($0.01). GoDaddy had a net margin of 41.74% and a return on equity of 267.29%. Research analysts expect that GoDaddy will post 4.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Brian Sharples sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.77, for a total transaction of $98,885.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,671,525.17. The trade was a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Mark Mccaffrey sold 480 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.29, for a total transaction of $96,619.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 83,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,758,197.66. This trade represents a 0.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,482 shares of company stock valued at $4,709,650. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of GoDaddy

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of GoDaddy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of GoDaddy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of GoDaddy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of GoDaddy by 311.3% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 218 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. Finally, Huntington National Bank lifted its position in shares of GoDaddy by 298.7% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 307 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.28% of the company’s stock.

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.