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.

April was an amazing month for the stock market. The S&P 500 (SPX) soared 10.4%, the Nasdaq ripped higher by 15.3%, the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) spiked 15.7%, the S&P MidCap 400 (MDY) rose 7.7%, and the S&P SmallCap 600 (SML) tacked on 10%. It was the best monthly performance for the SPX since April 2020 and November 2020. Other 10% monthly rips occurred in October 2011, December 1991, January 1987, August 1984, August and October 1982, November 1980, January 1976, January 1975, October 1974, November 1962, September 1939, June 1938, and many times after the 1929 to 1932 crash. Going back to 1962, when massive one-month gains occurred with the index at an all-time high at the end of the month, strong returns followed over the next 12 months.

The Goldman Sachs Group provides investment banking, securities, and investment management services to corporations, financial institutions, governments, and high-net-worth individuals worldwide. Goldman reorganized its businesses in 4Q22 into three operating segments: Asset & Wealth Management, Global Banking & Markets, and Platform Solutions, with the latter including transaction banking and consumer partnerships. INDSUTRY Our rating on the Financial sector is Over-Weight. The Financial sector accounted for 12.6% of the S&P 500 as of the end of March. We think diversified investors should have meaningful exposure to the sector, at about 125-150% of the current sector weight. The sector receives above-average marks on our six-part 'blind' sector rating criteria, which includes growth momentum, valuation, financial strength, and analyst conviction, among other factors. The sector has underperformed the market year to date with a loss of 9.8% as of the end of March. The sector underperformed in 2025, with a gain of 13.3%, compared to a gain of 16.4% for the S&P 500. The beta for the sector is 1.1. Over the past five years, the sector's weighting has ranged from 10% to 15%. The sector's P/E ratio on projected 2026 EPS was 15, below the market multiple. The yield of 1.4% was above the market average. The sector's smoothed earnings growth rate of 9% was below the market average. The Financial sector is a cyclical and often value-oriented sector. The macroeconomic factors that may affect the performance of stocks in the Financial sector include the Unemployment Rate (which can influence the debt repaying capability of consumers and therefore credit costs), Interest Rates (which can determine lending profitability), and GDP or growth in the economy (which influence loan growth). The industry is also highly regulated, so changes in the regulatory environment can influence capital set-aside requirements and thus profitability. At this stage of the market and economic cycle, our favored industries within the Financial sector include Diversified Banks, Financial Exchanges & Data, and Investment Banking & Brokerage.

It seemed as if a period of geopolitical relative calm was forming, and investors were turning their attention to the just-beginning earnings season. But there was a step back over the weekend, as a marathon session of diplomacy resulted in nothing of note regarding a possible end of the war between the U.S. and Israel on one side, and Iran on the other. So as we enter this week, oil prices are headed higher yet again and the possibility that fighting will begin again is back in play. Meanwhile, the weekly insider-sentiment data from Vickers Stock Research shows a slight sentiment improvement among insiders at companies that trade on the NYSE and a noticeable sentiment drop among insiders at companies that trade on the NYSE. Of note, those results are likely driven more by expectations for earnings season than by developments in the war, as the data was compiled prior to the disappointing weekend geopolitical news. Turning to insider sentiment on a sector basis, six sectors logged bullish one-week sell/buy ratios over the past week. These included Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples, Energy, Financials, Industrial, and Materials. Of these sectors, Financial had the lowest (most bullish) sell/buy ratio, coming in at 0.3. Meanwhile, Information Technology was the only sector that recorded a bearish sell/buy ratio during the week. While we note that this represents a weaker result than the sector posted last week, when it recorded a neutral ratio, the IT sector has fluctuated regularly between bearish and neutral over the past several weeks. This week, analysts at Vickers highlighted insider transactions of interest at Photronics Inc. (NGS: PLAB) and Jabil Inc. (NYSE: JBL).