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

B. Riley Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:RILY) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 86,778 call options on the company. This is an increase of 105% compared to the typical volume of 42,433 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of B. Riley Financial by 11.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 276,455 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,332,000 after acquiring an additional 27,584 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in B. Riley Financial by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,192,119 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $48,865,000 after purchasing an additional 43,247 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in B. Riley Financial by 152.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 119,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,904,000 after purchasing an additional 72,247 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in B. Riley Financial by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 225,392 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,731,000 after purchasing an additional 8,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new position in shares of B. Riley Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $781,000. 50.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

B. Riley Financial Trading Up 16.6 %

NASDAQ:RILY traded up $4.94 on Thursday, hitting $34.69. The stock had a trading volume of 3,302,883 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,428,411. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $20.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.81. The stock has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.44 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a quick ratio of 4.62, a current ratio of 4.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.51. B. Riley Financial has a 1-year low of $14.46 and a 1-year high of $60.72.

B. Riley Financial (NASDAQ:RILY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The asset manager reported ($1.86) earnings per share for the quarter. B. Riley Financial had a negative return on equity of 8.29% and a negative net margin of 4.75%. The company had revenue of $346.51 million for the quarter.

B. Riley Financial Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.77%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. B. Riley Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -71.68%.

About B. Riley Financial

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