Top Insider Trades: LMCA, ST, SNTS, BEAV

By Jonathan Moreland, founder of Insider Insights and author of Profit From Legal Insider Trading.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- It is a victory for common sense. Tracking the trading behavior of company executives, directors and large shareholders in the stocks of firms they're registered in as "insiders" has proven to be profitable, according to both academic studies and (more importantly) the experience of professional investors.

Below are lists of the top 10 mainly open-market insider purchases and sales filed at the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday, December 19, 2012 as ranked by dollar value. Please note, however, that these are only factual lists, not buy and sell recommendations. Dollar value is only one metric to assess the importance of an insider transaction, and, frankly, often not even the most important metric that determines if an insider transaction is significant.

At InsiderInsights.com, we find new investment ideas just about every day using these and more intricate insider screens to determine where we should focus our subsequent fundamental and technical analysis. And while stocks don't (or shouldn't) move up or down based on insider activity alone, insiders tend to be good indicators of when real stock-moving events like earnings surprises, corporate actions, and new products may be in the offing.

So use these regular Top Insider Trades columns as the initial research tools they are meant to be, and click the links in the tables to analyze a company's or insider's full insider history. Also feel free to contact us with any questions on our proprietary insider data, and how it is best analyzed.

Liberty Media (LMCA) Malone John C CB,DIR,BO 490,597 56,418,656 Solarcity (SCTY) Musk Elon DIR,BO 1,875,000 15,000,000 Santarus (SNTS) Love Ted W DIR 185,000 2,012,800 Incyte (INCY) De Schutter Richard CB,DIR 45,000 724,950 Ntn Buzztime (NTN) Berg Jeffrey A CEO,DIR,BO 3,458,629 691,726 Wiley John & Sons (JWB) Wiley Bradford II DIR 12,000 445,800 Enstar (ESGR) Campbell Robert J DIR 2,500 263,112 First Opp Fund (FOFI) Adams Nicholas C FO 27,035 205,290 Opko Health (OPK) Frost Phillip MD CEO,CB,BO 35,000 163,822 Francescas (FRAN) Emmett Richard J DIR 5,000 138,532 Source: Insider Insights

Sensata Tech (ST) Bain Capital DIR,BO,BO 18,190,392 541,073,216 Lamar Adv (LAMR) Spo Advisory BO 3,000,000 117,630,000 Liberty (LMCA) Bennett Robert R DIR 450,000 51,750,000 Visa (V) Saunders Joseph W CB,DIR 333,407 49,414,250 Vector (VGR) Lorber Howard M PR,CEO,DIR 1,000,000 15,070,000 Charter Com (CHTR) Crestview Partners DIR,BO 208,881 14,988,388 World Acc (WRLD) Prescott GP BO 138,040 10,070,448 Linkedin (LNKD) Hoffman Reid DIR,BO 83,334 9,581,298 Be Aero (BEAV) Khoury Amin J CB,CEO,DIR 170,360 8,150,732 Comcast (CMCSA) Roberts Brian L CB,PR,CEO 211,800 7,753,030 Source: Insider Insights

Key to Titles: A=Assistant, AI=Affiliated Investor, AO=Accounting Officer, BD=Business Development, BO=Beneficial Owner, CAO=Chief Accounting Officer, CB=Chairman, CCO=Chief Compliance Officer, CEO=Chief Executive Officer, CFO=Chief Financial Officer, CIO=Chief Information Officer, CO=Compliance Officer, COO=Chief Operating Officer, CT=Controller, CTO=Chief Technology Officer, DIR=Director, EVP=Executive Vice President, F=Founder, FO=Financial Officer, GC=General Counsel, HR=Human Resources, IO=Information Officer, IR=Investor Relations, LO=Legal Officer, MD=Managing Director, O=Officer, OO=Operating Officer, PR=President, PT=Partner, REL=Relative of an insider, SEC=Secretary, SH=Shareholder, SO=Sales Officer, TO=Technology Officer, TR=Treasurer, TT=Trustee, VCB=Vice Chairman, VP=Vice President, X=Ex Officer or other title displayed.

Jonathan Moreland is the founder of InsiderInsights.com, which produces a weekly newsletter and offers professional screening and alerting tools to analyze a proprietary, real-time insider data feed. He is also the principal of Insider Asset Management, a registered investment advisor in New York. Mr. Moreland has been analyzing insider data professionally for two decades and has been a contributor to TheStreet.com since 2001. A fundamental analyst with an MBA in finance, Mr. Moreland long ago identified insider data as an excellent first screen to determine where to focus his research efforts. He is quoted frequently in the media for his insider analysis and stock recommendations stemming from it. He is also author of Profit From Legal Insider Trading.

Under no circumstances does the information in this column represent a recommendation to buy or sell stocks. While he cannot provide investment advice or recommendations, Moreland appreciates your feedback; click here to send him an email.