Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV Has $2.75 Million Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Mainstay Capital cut its stake by 48.9% in Microsoft to 5,306 shares (worth $2.75 million), making MSFT just 0.3% of the fund’s portfolio and its 27th-largest holding.
• News flow is mixed: the OpenAI partnership is boosting AI-driven customer wins and Azure adoption, but exclusivity concerns from OpenAI–Amazon talks, security incidents, and rising AI compute costs pose material risks to growth and margins.
• Analysts rate Microsoft a “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $591.87 after a recent earnings beat, and the company pays a $0.91 quarterly dividend (about a 1.0% yield).

Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV cut its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 48.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,306 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 5,082 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 0.3% of Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV's portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV's holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,748,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant's stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,641,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA now owns 1,276 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $635,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the third quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. now owns 6,509 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,371,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARK & TLK Investments LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 1.0% during the third quarter. ARK & TLK Investments LLC now owns 1,935 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,002,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI tie-up is driving new customer wins and adoption of Microsoft AI products, supporting recurring revenue growth and Copilot monetization. How Microsoft’s (MSFT) OpenAI Partnership Is Bringing in a New Wave of Customers
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts point to an AI-fueled Azure surge and a large enterprise backlog (reported as a material competitive edge vs. peers like Adobe), supporting medium-term revenue upside. Microsoft vs. Adobe: Which Software Giant Has Better Upside Potential?
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic partner activity (e.g., Accenture collaborations and ecosystem integrations) reinforces Microsoft’s position in enterprise security and AI services, which can deepen customer stickiness and drive incremental services revenue. Accenture Expands AI-Driven Cybersecurity Capabilities with Microsoft Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Traders and retail investors are seeing increased options activity and yield strategies (but these are tactical, not fundamental). Some traders propose structured trades (butterfly, income ETFs) to play the pullback. Transform Microsoft Stock Weakness Into A $1,700 Payoff With A Butterfly Trade
• Neutral Sentiment: Large-cap active ETFs continue to hold Microsoft as a core position, which can stabilize flows even during sell-offs (institutional ETF flows are a background influence on demand).
• Negative Sentiment: OpenAI exclusivity appears at risk as OpenAI talks with Amazon, and reports say Microsoft is considering legal action — a potential breakdown of the partnership would materially weaken MSFT’s AI moat and Azure demand assumptions. Microsoft Weighs Legal Fight As OpenAI Amazon Talks Test Azure Edge
• Negative Sentiment: Policy/contract changes in local government dealings (NDAs and procurement) have been cited as a trigger for some municipal and public-sector deals to slow, which analysts say pressured the stock in intraday trading. No More NDAs: Microsoft Stock NASDAQ: MSFT Slumps After Change in Local Government Dealings
• Negative Sentiment: Security incidents continue to create headlines: a U.S. agency urged firms to harden a Microsoft endpoint tool after the Stryker attack, and reports of SharePoint being used as an attack vector raise enterprise risk and potential remediation costs. These keep risk-premiums elevated for MSFT. US agency asks companies to secure Microsoft tool after Stryker cyberattack
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned about rising infrastructure and AI compute costs that have pressured margins despite solid top-line beats; commentary that the stock has been “slammed” this year reflects worry about near-term margin compression and valuation re-rating. Microsoft Stock Has Been Absolutely Slammed This Year. Is It Finally Time to Buy?

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $615.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. DZ Bank restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $591.87.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $381.35 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average is $418.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $472.25. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.76%.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft's product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

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