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.

Cleveland-based KeyCorp is one of the largest bank-based financial services companies in the U.S., with about 1,000 branches in 15 states and assets of $189 billion. The company also operates a national consumer bank and a national corporate bank.

Last week, we reported on a significant move to bullish in the weekly insider-sentiment data provided by Vickers Stock Research. So was that positive turn of events maintained this week? Not as aggressively, but the short-term data is still positive and the long-term trends are still improving. The NYSE One-Week Sell/Buy Ratio from Vickers is bullish for a second week. Meanwhile, the Total (all exchanges) and Nasdaq One-Week Sell/Buy Ratios have both moved back into neutral territory from bullish territory last week. But the readings are at the low end of the neutral range that runs from 2.00 to 6.00 (with anything below 2.00 bullish). And, importantly, the overall one-week sentiment is strong enough to allow the eight-week sentiment to continue improving. Vickers' NYSE Eight-Week Sell/Buy Ratio is now 2.41, improved from 2.75 last week; the Nasdaq Eight-Week Sell/Buy Ratio is now 3.35, from 3.51 last week; and the Total Eight-Week Sell/Buy Ratio is now 2.83, from 3.10 last week. Of note, insider-transaction volume has now fallen to the low levels that are always seen during earnings season, and will stay that way for the next several weeks. On a sector basis, insider buying exceeded selling in Consumer Discretionary last week, with shares valued at $10 million bought versus $6 million sold. Buying also outpaced selling in Healthcare, as shares valued at $2.4 million were bought versus $0.7 million sold. Selling was the greatest in Information Technology over the last week, with shares valued at $22 million sold versus just $39,700 bought. Selling was also notable in Financial, Consumer Staples, and Industrials. This week, analysts at Vickers highlighted insider transactions of interest at Calavo Growers Inc. (NGS: CVGW) and Dollar Tree Inc. (NGS: DLTR).

Despite bursts of outperformance, small- and mid-cap stocks (SMID) have underperformed large-caps year to date -- as they have over the past five years. But they may be in a better position to generate market-beating returns going forward. For one thing, SMID companies tend to focus on domestic markets, so their businesses could be less disrupted by the trade and tariff debate, or fallout from unrest in the Middle East, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, issues in China, or other geopolitical developments. As well, the prices of SMID stocks generally are lower than the prices of large-caps. Finally, there are long stretches in the record books when SMID stocks have outperformed large-caps. SMID stocks can be risky, but despite those risks, diversified investors look to have exposure to small- and mid-caps based on the long-term performance record. We estimate that 20% of the U.S. stock market's capitalization is comprised of SMID stocks.