Wal-Mart's Waltons Sell More First Solar

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The Walton family of Wal-Mart(WMT) fame has made its second sale of First Solar(FSLR) shares in the past week, and it's much larger than the first unloading of the U.S. solar bellwether stock.

The Waltons have sold roughly 280,000 shares of First Solar in two insider sales transactions filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday night, at prices ranging from $140 to just under $142.

Earlier this week, the Waltons made a smaller 30,000 share sale of First Solar.

>>Waltons Renew First Solar Selling

The 280,000 First Solar shares sold by the Waltons comes close to the largest share sale the Wal-Mart family has made this year of the U.S. solar stock. Back in May, the Waltons sold 300,000 First Solar shares.

The Waltons have a history of selling First Solar shares in batches when they do sell, and the $140 stock price has been the trigger to sell for the Waltons in 2010.

The Walton family sales of First Solar stock are always closely watched insider actions in solar, especially for those jittery solar investors wondering whether a rally has reached its end and if the sector is due for another drop. Detractors of reading too much into the insider sales action contend, however, that the Waltons own so much First Solar stock that gradual divestiture of the Wal-Mart heirs' large position is a normal trading course of action.

The First Solar bulls on Wall Street were out on Thursday with buy reiterations as high as $160 based on approvals for a major solar power project in the West, and First Solar shares received a bump in Thursday trading finishing up more than 3%. But the Waltons weren't waiting for First Solar shares to continue higher before selling.

The Walton family action in solar selling wasn't the only major insider sales action of this week, with the controlling shareholder of the largest solar cell maker, China's JA Solar(JASO), also unloading 2.3 million shares this week.

--Written by Eric Rosenbaum in New York.

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