Top Insider Trades: PDI MON XXIA HBAN

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, January 23, 2013 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.

Pimco Dyn Inc Fd (PDI) Ivascyn Daniel J O 75,991 2,301,486 Huntington Banc (HBAN) Steinour Stephen D PR,CEO, CB 40,000 281,587 Cortex Pharm (CORX) Samyang Optics BO 6,765,466 270,619 Encompass Energy (EESI) Armoudian Antranik PR,CFO, DIR 416,667 250,000 Suncoke Energy Partners (SXCP) Henderson Frederick CB,CEO, DIR 12,000 228,000 Thestreet (TST) Martin William C BO 140,838 227,333 Suncoke (SXCP) Thomson Michael J PR,COO, DIR 5,000 95,000 Suncoke (SXCP) Newman Mark VP,CFO, DIR 4,200 79,800 Clearbridge (CTR) Cronin Daniel P DIR 1,500 30,915 Fidelity (FDBC) Santaniello Daniel J DIR 1,117 20,500 Source: Insider Insights

Cobalt (CIE) Goldman Sachs BO 13.05M 326.26M Monsanto (MON) Grant Hugh CB,CEO, DIR 30,000 3,064,338 Kellogg (K) Kellogg WK Fd Tr BO 36,000 2,097,047 Ixia (XXIA) Addington Hills BO 105,000 2,016,588 General (GFN) Gagnon Neil BO 255,637 1,188,712 Oasis (OAS) Mace Roy W VP,CAO 25,000 902,495 Power (PSIX) Winemaster Gary DIR,BO 45,000 787,500 Range Res (RRC) Pinkerton John H CB 10,000 684,033 Endeavour Intl (END) GMT Capital BO 107,990 627,422 HCP (HCP) Henning Edward J VP 10,000 465,556 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.