Shareholders of FNX Mining Co. are no strangers to price volatility. The stock often moves several percentage points in either direction on a given day. The $2-billion market cap miner has also seen big long-term moves for its shares, climbing as high as $32.89 at the end of February but dipping to nearly $22 earlier this month.

Soon after, however, FNX got a big lift after announcing the creation of a new company, Gold Wheaton Corp., which will pay $400-million for half of the precious metals mined and shipped from FNX’s properties. FNX will also be the company’s largest shareholder with a 43% stake. However, the shares have retreated toward their previous level since.

The Street nonetheless remains optimistic with nine of 12 analysts that cover FNX with “buy” or “outperform” ratings. Their price targets are as high as $42.75 per share and the lowest is $28, according to Bloomberg.

Investors might also be interested to know what company insiders are doing with their shares. While director Robert Cudney sold 5,000 FNX shares for $26.32 each as they rose on June 20, bringing the total he has unloaded since April 25 to 71,600 (he still holds 445,446 shares through Northfield Capital Corp.), other FNX executives have been buying.

Executive chairman Terry MacGibbon bought 10,000 shares in the high $28 range in mid-May, bringing his total to 716,000, while CEO John W. Lill bought 20,000 at the same time for total holdings of 52,819 shares.

For more analysis of transactions by insiders at Canadian companies, go to www.fptradingdesk.com daily at 10 am.

Jonathan Ratner