Investors Buy Large Volume of Put Options on GoDaddy (NYSE:GDDY)

GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE:GDDY) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors acquired 11,680 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 493% compared to the average volume of 1,969 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Mark Mccaffrey sold 3,958 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.86, for a total value of $355,665.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 109,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,815,228.08. This trade represents a 3.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Sigal Zarmi sold 350 shares of GoDaddy stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.84, for a total transaction of $30,744.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,708 shares in the company, valued at approximately $501,390.72. The trade was a 5.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 16,751 shares of company stock worth $1,480,228. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of GoDaddy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GDDY. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of GoDaddy by 1.0% during the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,314,456 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $270,924,000 after purchasing an additional 33,509 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in GoDaddy by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,216,382 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $399,089,000 after buying an additional 319,515 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of GoDaddy by 117.5% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,989,931 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $370,991,000 after buying an additional 1,615,005 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. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in GoDaddy by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,733,028 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $339,116,000 after purchasing an additional 235,981 shares in the last quarter. 90.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GDDY. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on GoDaddy from $154.00 to $124.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. William Blair cut GoDaddy from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group began coverage on GoDaddy in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $100.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on GoDaddy from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, B. Riley Financial dropped their price target on GoDaddy from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.93.

Key GoDaddy News

Here are the key news stories impacting GoDaddy this week:

• Positive Sentiment: GoDaddy reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $1.83 per share, ahead of the $1.69 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 6.6% year over year to $1.30 billion, slightly exceeding expectations. GoDaddy second-quarter financial results
• Positive Sentiment: Management forecast third-quarter revenue of $1.315 billion to $1.335 billion and reaffirmed its approximately $1.8 billion free-cash-flow target. Airo, GoDaddy’s AI-powered product, reportedly reached roughly $50 million in annualized recurring revenue, supporting margin and cash-flow expansion. GoDaddy Q3 forecast and free-cash-flow target
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst views remain mixed. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating with a $90 price target, while Benchmark maintained a “buy” rating but reduced its target to $140 from $185. Raymond James lowered its rating from “strong buy” to “outperform” and set a $100 target, citing limited visibility. Raymond James rating change
• Negative Sentiment: Investors viewed the outlook as underwhelming even though quarterly results beat estimates. Full-year revenue guidance of $5.2 billion to $5.3 billion and third-quarter guidance near $1.3 billion were broadly in line with expectations, offering limited upside for a stock facing elevated growth expectations. GoDaddy Q2 outlook report
• Negative Sentiment: Bearish sentiment was reinforced by unusually heavy put-option activity, with put volume approximately five times its average. Commentary also highlighted investor concerns that generative AI could pressure GoDaddy’s traditional domain and website services and weigh on margins. GoDaddy AI disruption and margin concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Separate law-firm announcements concerning investigations into potential securities-law violations add an overhang, although these notices do not establish wrongdoing. GoDaddy securities investigation announcement

GoDaddy Price Performance

GDDY stock traded down $15.39 on Friday, reaching $83.94. The company had a trading volume of 4,442,597 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,305,490. The company’s fifty day moving average is $86.79 and its 200 day moving average is $88.83. The company has a market cap of $11.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.15, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.86, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. GoDaddy has a 1 year low of $71.59 and a 1 year high of $165.11.

GoDaddy (NYSE:GDDY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The technology company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. GoDaddy had a return on equity of 366.90% and a net margin of 17.32%.The company had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. GoDaddy’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that GoDaddy will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

GoDaddy Company Profile

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.