B. Riley Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:RILY) shareholders (or potential shareholders) will be happy to see that the Chairman & Co-CEO, Bryant Riley, recently bought a whopping US$1.5m worth of stock, at a price of US$77.35. There's no denying a buy of that magnitude suggests conviction in a brighter future, although we do note that proportionally it only increased their holding by 0.4%.
B. Riley Financial Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
Notably, that recent purchase by Chairman & Co-CEO Bryant Riley was not the only time they bought B. Riley Financial shares this year. Earlier in the year, they paid US$60.61 per share in a US$8.2m purchase. We do like to see buying, but this purchase was made at well below the current price of US$77.69. Because it occurred at a lower valuation, it doesn't tell us much about whether insiders might find today's price attractive.
Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 436.87k shares worth US$25m. But insiders sold 15.50k shares worth US$1.1m. In the last twelve months there was more buying than selling by B. Riley Financial insiders. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!
There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.
Insider Ownership
Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It's great to see that B. Riley Financial insiders own 35% of the company, worth about US$756m. Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.
What Might The Insider Transactions At B. Riley Financial Tell Us?
It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchases. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. When combined with notable insider ownership, these factors suggest B. Riley Financial insiders are well aligned, and quite possibly think the share price is too low. Looks promising! While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. Case in point: We've spotted 4 warning signs for B. Riley Financial you should be aware of, and 1 of them doesn't sit too well with us.
But note: B. Riley Financial may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.
For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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