Insider trading activity: Consumer Staples

[Updated May 01, 2013.] In April, we recorded 183 open-market insider trades at 41 companies having a total value of $3.8 billion. Transaction dollar volume was 1056.4% higher than in March, and 8.5% higher when compared to insider trading activity a year ago. Purchases accounted for 11.1% of all open-market trades last month. Our insider sell-to-buy ratio, which excludes derivative conversions and certain other types of transactions, ended the month at 7.68, up from March's reading of 6.5. On average, a sell-to-buy ratio below 4 is considered bullish, while readings above 7 are bearish.

Activity in April was the most concentrated in the Discount, Variety Stores industry, where 26 insiders filed trades having an aggregate market value of $3.5 billion. Rounding out the top three industries were Grocery Stores (7 trades for $6.2 million) and Processed & Packaged Goods (17 trades for $44.1 million). There was a large spike in activity in the Discount, Variety Stores industry, where the number of trades filed was up 182% on the previous month. We did not record any insider activity in the Dairy Products or Tobacco Products, Other industries in the past month.

The largest open-market transaction of the month was in DG stock, where 4 insiders sold 66,608,300 shares for a total of $3.3 billion. The biggest buy last month was for 83,299 shares of WAG, worth $4 million.