Investors Buy High Volume of B. Riley Financial Call Options (NASDAQ:RILY)

B. Riley Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:RILY) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Traders purchased 19,281 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 122% compared to the typical daily volume of 8,667 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on RILY shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of B. Riley Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered B. Riley Financial from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Sell rating. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Sell”.

B. Riley Financial Stock Down 8.1%

NASDAQ RILY opened at $4.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.13, a current ratio of 3.95 and a quick ratio of 3.95. The firm has a market cap of $163.21 million, a PE ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.30. B. Riley Financial has a one year low of $3.64 and a one year high of $11.24.

B. Riley Financial (NASDAQ:RILY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The asset manager reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter. B. Riley Financial had a net margin of 35.88% and a return on equity of 39,260.09%. The company had revenue of $239.36 million during the quarter.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On B. Riley Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in B. Riley Financial in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,832,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in B. Riley Financial by 2,715.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 53,830 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $394,000 after purchasing an additional 51,918 shares during the period. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in B. Riley Financial during the first quarter worth about $359,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.20% of the company’s stock.

About B. Riley Financial

B. Riley Financial, Inc is a diversified financial services company that provides investment banking, institutional brokerage, wealth management, asset appraisal, valuation, liquidation and restructuring services. Through its businesses, the company works with public and private companies, institutional investors, private equity firms, financial institutions and individual clients.

The company’s capital markets operations, including B. Riley Securities, offer investment banking, equity research, sales and trading, and related advisory services.