Top Insider Trades: ABMD, TRLA, CLMS, VPRT

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 Tuesday, Feb. 26, 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.

Abiomed (ABMD) Termeer Henri DIR 100,000 1,497,794 Calamos Asset Mgt (CLMS) Calamos John CB,CEO,BO 133,653 1,467,287 Vistaprint (VPRT) Smith Thomas BO 37,500 1,323,000 Endeavour (END) Steelhead Partners BO 325,000 875,835 Universal Stain. (USAP) Pennant Capital BO 16,100 577,555 Cytomedix (CMXI) Kent Richard DIR 963,637 530,000 Belden (BDC) Cressey Bryan DIR 10,000 500,369 Support Com (SPRT) RGM Capital BO 100,000 400,000 First Financial (FFIN) Dueser F Scott CB,PR,CEO 6,024 263,972 Guidance (GUID) RGM Capital BO 25,568 252,989 Source: Insider Insights

Google (GOOG) Schmidt Eric CB,DIR 94,190 74,477,482 Mastercard (MA) Mastercard Fdn BO 24,963 12,888,551 Brown Forman (BFB) Frazier Laura BO 113,406 7,559,434 Trulia (TRLA) Fayez Sarofim Inv BO 227,301 5,886,936 Trulia (TRLA) Accel IX DIR,BO 180,500 4,659,650 Trulia (TRLA) Inkinen Sami DIR 150,000 3,869,082 Iron Mountain (IRM) Ryan Vincent J DIR 96,696 3,354,637 Westinghouse Air (WAB) Garcia Tunon VP,CFO,SEC 30,000 2,924,700 Medidata (MDSO) De Vries Glen PR,DIR 56,547 2,838,835 American Express (AXP) Hayes John VP 32,000 1,993,158 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.