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

Key Points

• Heavy call buying: Traders purchased 26,130 ON Semiconductor call options on Thursday—about a 116% increase versus typical daily call volume—indicating bullish short-term positioning that can amplify upside on heavy-volume days.
• Positive catalysts from Wall Street and buyback: Bank of America upgraded ON to Buy and the company announced an aggressive $6 billion share buyback, while several analysts raised price targets even though the consensus rating remains a "Hold" with an average target near $64.96.
• Mixed fundamentals and risks: ON beat EPS but reported revenue down 11.2% year-over-year and set Q1 guidance of $0.56–$0.66, and recent insider selling plus a very high trailing P/E (~230.6) present valuation and execution risks.

ON Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:ON - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 26,130 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 116% compared to the typical volume of 12,080 call options.

Key Stories Impacting ON Semiconductor

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.)

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on ON. KeyCorp increased their price objective on ON Semiconductor from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of ON Semiconductor in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on ON Semiconductor from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Benchmark lowered ON Semiconductor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on ON Semiconductor from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $64.96.

ON Semiconductor Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ON traded up $6.05 during trading on Thursday, hitting $78.48. 12,070,715 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,581,563. The company has a market cap of $30.87 billion, a PE ratio of 230.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.53. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $64.64 and a 200 day moving average of $57.60. ON Semiconductor has a 52-week low of $33.20 and a 52-week high of $80.50. 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 (NASDAQ:ON - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 9th. The semiconductor company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. ON Semiconductor had a return on equity of 12.22% and a net margin of 2.02%.The business's quarterly revenue was down 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. ON Semiconductor has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.560-0.660 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that ON Semiconductor will post 2.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Sudhir Gopalswamy sold 6,114 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.67, for a total value of $358,708.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 173,943 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,205,235.81. This represents a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Hassane El-Khoury sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.02, for a total value of $1,460,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,015,610 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $74,159,842.20. This represents a 1.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 86,114 shares of company stock valued at $6,092,308 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.35% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ON Semiconductor

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in ON Semiconductor by 72.8% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 522 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC raised its position in ON Semiconductor by 83.7% during the fourth quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 472 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its position in ON Semiconductor by 42.1% during the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 503 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in ON Semiconductor during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its position in ON Semiconductor by 68.7% during the third quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 577 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.70% of the company's stock.

ON Semiconductor Company Profile

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.

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