This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The Walton Family Holdings Trust sold $256 million of Wal-Mart Stores as shares hovered around highs for the year.

The trust unloaded 3.5 million shares at prices ranging from $72.45 to $74.28 on Aug. 19 and 22, according to a regulatory filing.

Those transactions follow $104 million of sales at the end of June at prices between $70.67 and $71.86. Shares of the retailer have climbed this year after closing at a four-year low of $56.42 in November.

Seventy-seven percent of analysts tracked by Bloomberg have a hold rating on the stock, with an average 12-month price target of $73.68.

Walton Enterprises, the family's main investment entity, distributed about 6 percent of the shares to the trust in April 2015.

The family said in a statement that it expects to sell shares from time to time to help fund charitable contributions and offset possible further increases in its ownership percentage as a result of the company's stock buyback programs.

The trust now owns about 170 million shares of the business, the filings show. That's a fraction of the 1.4 billion shares held by Walton Enterprises. Together the two entities own 51 percent of the retailer.

Spokesmen for Wal-Mart and the Walton family directed Bloomberg to the April 2015 statement.