Big PacifiCare Investor Sells Stock Back

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc.’s largest shareholder sold 750,000 shares back to the Santa Ana health insurer, according to a report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

UniHealth Foundation, a nonprofit California corporation, sold the shares in August under terms of a May 1999 agreement with PacifiCare, according to the SEC filing, which was disclosed Friday after U.S. markets closed. UniHealth now owns 5.4 million shares of PacifiCare, or about 16% of the company’s outstanding shares.

Under the 1999 agreement, UniHealth can sell another 750,000 shares to PacifiCare in November and 909,500 more in February. UniHealth isn’t obligated to sell the shares if the price is below $75, the filing said.

Shares of PacifiCare fell $3.94, or 10%, to $34.81 in Nasdaq trading.

Chase H&Q; analyst Lori Price said she expects UniHealth to sell more shares. The sales are a vote of no confidence in PacifiCare, Price wrote in a report.