The latest 13F reporting period has come and gone, and Insider Monkey is again at the forefront when it comes to making use of this gold mine of data. We at Insider Monkey have plowed through 821 13F filings that hedge funds and well-known value investors are required to file by the SEC. The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of March 31st, a week after the market trough. In this article we look at what those investors think of Godaddy Inc (NYSE:GDDY).
Godaddy Inc (NYSE:GDDY) has seen an increase in hedge fund interest recently. GDDY was in 54 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2020. There were 51 hedge funds in our database with GDDY holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that GDDY isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q1 rankings and see the video for a quick look at the top 5 stocks).
Video: Watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
At the moment there are several metrics investors have at their disposal to evaluate stocks. A couple of the most innovative metrics are hedge fund and insider trading interest. Our researchers have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite money managers can outclass the broader indices by a significant amount (see the details here).
Clifton S. Robbins of Blue Harbour Group
At Insider Monkey we leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example, we are still not out of the woods in terms of the coronavirus pandemic. So, we checked out this analyst’s “corona catalyst plays“. We interview hedge fund managers and ask them about best ideas. You can watch our latest hedge fund manager interview here and find out the name of the large-cap healthcare stock that Sio Capital’s Michael Castor expects to double. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. Our best call in 2020 was shorting the market when S&P 500 was trading at 3150 after realizing the coronavirus pandemic’s significance before most investors. Now let’s take a peek at the latest hedge fund action surrounding Godaddy Inc (NYSE:GDDY).
What does smart money think about Godaddy Inc (NYSE:GDDY)?
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 54 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 6% from the fourth quarter of 2019. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards GDDY over the last 18 quarters. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were adding to their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
The largest stake in Godaddy Inc (NYSE:GDDY) was held by Select Equity Group, which reported holding $451.5 million worth of stock at the end of September. It was followed by 12 West Capital Management with a $219.2 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included BlueSpruce Investments, Renaissance Technologies, and D E Shaw. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Brahman Capital allocated the biggest weight to Godaddy Inc (NYSE:GDDY), around 15.33% of its 13F portfolio. 12 West Capital Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, designating 13.06 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to GDDY.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, some big names were breaking ground themselves. Newbrook Capital Advisors, managed by Robert Boucai, assembled the biggest position in Godaddy Inc (NYSE:GDDY). Newbrook Capital Advisors had $60 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Glen Kacher’s Light Street Capital also made a $40.2 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new GDDY positions are Josh Resnick’s Jericho Capital Asset Management, James Woodson Davis’s Woodson Capital Management, and Clifton S. Robbins’s Blue Harbour Group.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Godaddy Inc (NYSE:GDDY). We will take a look at CBOE Global Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBOE), Essential Utilities Inc (NYSE:WTRG), Zebra Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ:ZBRA), and FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to GDDY’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| CBOE | 38 | 780569 | 11 |
| WTRG | 23 | 518741 | 2 |
| ZBRA | 28 | 576010 | -6 |
| FDS | 21 | 210129 | -3 |
| Average | 27.5 | 521362 | 1 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 27.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $521 million. That figure was $2248 million in GDDY’s case. CBOE Global Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBOE) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS) is the least popular one with only 21 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Godaddy Inc (NYSE:GDDY) is more popular among hedge funds. Our calculations showed that top 10 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 41.4% in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 10.1 percentage points. These stocks returned 7.9% in 2020 through May 22nd but still managed to beat the market by 15.6 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on GDDY as the stock returned 32.5% so far in Q2 (through May 22nd) and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Hedge funds were clearly right about piling into this stock relative to other stocks with similar market capitalizations.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
