B. Riley Financial Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:RILY)

B. Riley Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:RILY) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 54,698 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 172% compared to the typical volume of 20,144 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RILY. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in B. Riley Financial by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 9,543 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 2,952 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in B. Riley Financial during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in B. Riley Financial by 37.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 21,658 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 5,920 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in B. Riley Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in B. Riley Financial by 1,049.1% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 9,710 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 8,865 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 50.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of B. Riley Financial to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday.

B. Riley Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:RILY traded up $1.66 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $5.82. 11,003,815 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,811,266. The company has a market cap of $177.57 million, a PE ratio of -0.28 and a beta of 1.30. B. Riley Financial has a 12 month low of $2.73 and a 12 month high of $40.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $4.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.16.

B. Riley Financial (NASDAQ:RILY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 21st. The asset manager reported ($4.97) EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $199.31 million during the quarter. B. Riley Financial had a negative net margin of 48.04% and a negative return on equity of 236.88%.

B. Riley Financial Company Profile

B. Riley Financial, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides financial services to corporate, institutional, and high net worth clients in North America, Australia, the Asia Pacific, and Europe. The company operates through six segments: Capital Markets, Wealth Management, Financial Consulting, Auction and Liquidation, Communications, and Consumer.