Insider trading activity: Health Care

[Updated May 01, 2013.] In April, we recorded 348 open-market insider trades at 103 companies having a total value of $801.5 million. Transaction dollar volume was 47% lower than in March, and 246.4% 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 8.06, up from March's reading of 5.59. On average, a sell-to-buy ratio below 4 is considered bullish, while readings above 7 are bearish.

For the 27th consecutive week, activity in April was the most concentrated in the Biotechnology industry, where 64 insiders filed trades having an aggregate market value of $61 million. Rounding out the top three industries were Drug Manufacturers - Other (39 trades for $103.1 million) and Medical Appliances & Equipment (30 trades for $10.6 million). We did not record any insider activity in the Medical Practitioners or Drugs - Generic industries in the past month.

The largest open-market transaction of the month was in INFI stock, where 2 insiders sold 11,416,560 shares for a total of $438.4 million. The biggest buy last month was for 250,600 shares of OPK, worth $1.7 million.