by Jonathan Moreland, Minyanville staff writer

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In a victory for common sense, the trading behavior of company executives, directors, and large shareholders in the stocks of firms they're registered "insiders" at have been proven profitable to monitor by both academic studies and (more importantly) the experience of your fellow 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 9, 2013 as ranked by dollar value.

Please note, however, that these are 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.

O-Cap Management L.P., an investment fund which Portfolio Manager Jared Sturdivant describes as "a hybrid between private equity and a traditional hedge fund," bought $354,840 worth of stock in exploration and production company Endeavour International Corporation END, of which it is a beneficiary owner. William Schneider, an independent director of close-ended management investment company Nuveen Equity Premium and Growth Fund JPG, bought $295,918 worth of company stock. Jack Fockler Jr., Vice President of Royce Focus Trust FUND, bought $152,018 worth of company stock. Royce Focus Trust is a close-ended fund that invest with a value approach in mostly small companies.

In today's biggest sale, the Grover Coors Trust, a beneficial owner of Graphic Packaging GPK, sold $52,908,412 worth of company stock. Graphic Packaging is a leading designer and manufacturer of packaging for commercial products. At outsourcing solutions provider PHH PHH, beneficial owner Scopia Fund Management, an institutional alternative asset management firm, sold $12,107,858 worth of company stock. Professional social network LinkedIn LNKD saw three sales, with Senior Vice President of Operations David Henke selling $2,005,023, Director David Sze selling $1,804,400, and Chief Financial Officer Steven Sordello selling $1,110,813. Facebook FB had two sales, with Vice President and General Counsel Theordore Ullyot (whose job entails addressing privacy issues) selling $1,473,731, and Vice President of Engineering Michael Schroepfer selling $1,136,908.

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.

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