Stock Traders Buy High Volume of ON Semiconductor Call Options (NASDAQ:ON)

ON Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:ON) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 26,130 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 116% compared to the average volume of 12,080 call options.

ON Semiconductor News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting ON Semiconductor this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America upgraded ON to a Buy and highlighted ON’s AI-oriented product pipeline, strength in power semiconductors for automotive/industrial end-markets, and the company’s aggressive $6 billion share buyback — a major capital-return signal that can support the stock. Bank Of America Upgrade Reframes ON Semiconductor Buyback And Valuation Story
• Positive Sentiment: Unusual option activity: call buying surged (26,130 calls traded, ~116% above typical daily volume), which is consistent with bullish short-term positioning by traders and can amplify upside on heavy volume days.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent fundamentals: ON beat the last-quarter EPS consensus by a small amount but reported year-over-year revenue decline and set Q1 guidance (0.560–0.660 EPS). Those results show a mixed operational picture — beat on EPS but softer revenue — so the upgrade/buyback is the stronger near-term catalyst. $ON stock is up 7% today. Here’s what we see in our data.
• Negative Sentiment: Substantial insider selling has been reported in recent months (multiple executives sold shares), which investors may view as a cautionary signal even as the buyback is announced. $ON insider and institutional activity (Quiver)
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and mixed institutional flows: ON’s trailing metrics (elevated P/E) and the fact that many institutions reduced positions in recent filings introduce some execution and valuation risk — the buyback/upgrade may be priced in quickly, leaving fundamentals to matter next. (See Quiver data above for institutional moves.)

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on ON. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on ON Semiconductor from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Bank of America raised ON Semiconductor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of ON Semiconductor in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Truist Financial raised their target price on ON Semiconductor from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of ON Semiconductor in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at ON Semiconductor

In related news, insider Sudhir Gopalswamy sold 6,114 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.67, for a total value of $358,708.38. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 173,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,205,235.81. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Hassane El-Khoury sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.02, for a total value of $1,460,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,015,610 shares in the company, valued at $74,159,842.20. The trade was a 1.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 86,114 shares of company stock worth $6,092,308 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ON Semiconductor

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its holdings in shares of ON Semiconductor by 6.8% during the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 33,357 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,065,000 after purchasing an additional 2,120 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ON Semiconductor by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 96,120 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,205,000 after purchasing an additional 14,776 shares during the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of ON Semiconductor during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $213,000. SHP Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of ON Semiconductor during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Kera Capital Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ON Semiconductor by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. now owns 7,391 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 922 shares during the last quarter. 97.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ON Semiconductor Stock Up 8.4%

ON traded up $6.05 on Thursday, hitting $78.48. The company had a trading volume of 12,070,715 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,581,563. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.52 and a quick ratio of 2.98. ON Semiconductor has a 52-week low of $33.20 and a 52-week high of $80.50. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 230.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.53.

ON Semiconductor (NASDAQ:ON) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 9th. The semiconductor company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.02. ON Semiconductor had a net margin of 2.02% and a return on equity of 12.22%. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. ON Semiconductor’s quarterly revenue was down 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. ON Semiconductor has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.560-0.660 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that ON Semiconductor will post 2.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About ON Semiconductor

ON Semiconductor, which operates under the onsemi brand, is a global supplier of semiconductor components and related solutions. The company designs, manufactures and sells a broad portfolio that includes power and analog devices, discrete components, sensors and custom mixed-signal products. Its offerings are used to manage, convert and sense electrical power and signals across a wide range of electronic systems.

ON Semiconductor serves customers in key end markets such as automotive, industrial, cloud power and communications, as well as consumer and computing applications.