Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on B. Riley Financial (NASDAQ:RILY)

Key Points

• Call-option activity surged: Traders bought 16,853 call options in B. Riley Financial, about 49% above the average volume of 11,345.
• Shares remained under pressure: RILY rose $0.03 to $7.30, below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, with a market capitalization of approximately $271 million.
• Analyst sentiment is negative: Wall Street Zen downgraded the stock to “hold,” Weiss Ratings maintained a “sell” rating, and the consensus rating remains “sell,” despite several institutional investors increasing their positions.

B. Riley Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:RILY - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 16,853 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 49% compared to the average volume of 11,345 call options.

B. Riley Financial Stock Performance

Shares of RILY traded up $0.03 on Tuesday, reaching $7.30. 648,711 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,047,529. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $7.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $7.90. The stock has a market cap of $271.05 million, a PE ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.23. B. Riley Financial has a 52-week low of $3.64 and a 52-week high of $11.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 3.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.13.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in RILY. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of B. Riley Financial by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 194,105 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $907,000 after acquiring an additional 1,886 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd increased its position in shares of B. Riley Financial by 4.2% during the second quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 62,517 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 2,531 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in B. Riley Financial by 237.2% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,963 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 4,898 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its stake in B. Riley Financial by 70.0% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 17,106 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 7,044 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in B. Riley Financial by 144.9% in the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 14,504 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 8,582 shares during the period. 50.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RILY has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered B. Riley Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of B. Riley Financial in a report on Monday, June 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Sell rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Sell".

About B. Riley Financial

B. Riley Financial, Inc, headquartered in Los Angeles, California, is a diversified financial services company offering a broad range of advisory and investment solutions to individual, corporate and institutional clients. Since its founding in 1997 by Bryant E. Riley, the firm has expanded its capabilities across two primary segments: financial solutions and operations solutions. Its financial solutions segment provides investment banking services, equity research, merger and acquisition advisory, corporate finance, restructuring advisory and private capital solutions.

In addition to traditional investment banking, B.

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