Yahoo Finance

With earnings season in full gear, the volume of insider transactions is as cyclically low as ever. So it would be easy to say that insider-sentiment data from Vickers Stock Research is not relevant. But while short-term data may be lacking, broader trends remain in place. And those trends still suggest that stocks, which have had an admirable run higher in the year to date, are - in the opinion of insiders -vulnerable. Yet insiders tapped out weeks ago and stocks have continued to rise. So are insiders a lone voice? Maybe not. As detailed by Argus' Mark Arbeter, CMT, last week was technically tough. NYSE breadth was barely positive and advancing volume/total volume was a meager 64%. The percentage of NYSE stocks above their 50-day average has fallen to 40% from 56% a week ago, while the percentage above the 200-day is marginally bullish at 60% -- but down from 65%. For the S&P 500, only 41% are over the 50-day average, down from 57% a week ago. Other breadth deterioration was also seen. But as Mark also noted, price is all that matters technically. So at least for now, price reigns. Insider buying outpaced insider selling in two sectors over the past week. In Communication Services, insiders bought shares valued at $524,700, while cashing in for only $182,304 during the period. Additionally, buying drove the activity in Consumer Staples over the past week, with shares valued at $522,765 bought versus $108,438 sold. In Real Estate, buying just barely lagged selling. Meanwhile, the greatest level of selling occurred in Information Technology, with shares valued at $639 million sold versus $84,056 bought. Selling activity was also of note in Consumer Discretionary ($79 million sold versus $188,225 bought), as well as in Healthcare, Financial, and Industrials. This week, analysts at Vickers highlighted insider transactions of interest at Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL).

The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

The Vickers Top Insider Picks is a daily report that utilizes a proprietary algorithm to identify 25 companies with compelling insider purchase histories based on transactions over the past three months.

Koninklijke Philips is a diversified global healthcare company operating in three segments: diagnosis and treatment, connected care, and personal health. Nearly 50% of the company's revenue comes from the diagnosis and treatment segment, which features imaging systems, ultrasound equipment, and image-guided therapy solutions. The connected care segment (under 30% of revenue) encompasses monitoring and analytics systems for hospitals, informatics business, and also houses the sleep and respiratory care segment. Personal health business (remainder of revenue) is mainly oral health and personal care product lines, which include electric toothbrushes and men's grooming and personal-care products.