Xie H Erin 4

What Happened
Erin Xie, a portfolio manager at BlackRock Health Sciences Trust (BME), had multiple derivative/phantom-share transactions reported for 2026-01-30. She exercised/converted and surrendered a total of 11,449.509 phantom shares to the issuer at $41.87 per share, generating $479,391 in cash. The filing also shows an acquisition (a grant/award) of 6,379.152 phantom shares valued at $41.87 each (total $267,095). These were cash-settled phantom-share transactions tied to compensation, not open-market trades.

Key Details

• Transaction date: 2026-01-30; filing date: 2026-02-03 (Form 4) — filed within the normal two-business-day window.
• Cash received: 11,449.509 phantom shares × $41.87 = $479,391 (Disposition to issuer).
• New award recorded: 6,379.152 phantom shares × $41.87 = $267,095 (derivative award/grant).
• The three M (exercise/conversion) line items (3,451.503; 3,013.399; 4,984.607) sum to 11,449.509 — these represent vested portions of previously reported phantom-share awards (see footnotes).
• Shares owned after transaction: not reported in the Form 4 provided.
• Footnotes: phantom shares are cash-settled equivalents of common stock and vest/pay out in equal installments over the first three anniversaries of each grant (prior grants reported Jan 31 of 2023, 2024 and 2025).
• Transaction codes: M = exercise/conversion of derivative, D = disposition to issuer (surrender for cash), A = grant/award (phantom share award).

Context

• These were compensation-related, cash-settlement events (phantom shares), not open-market buys or sells of common stock. The disposition to the issuer indicates the phantom shares were surrendered for cash (a cashless settlement), which is routine when phantom or restricted-share units vest.
• Such transactions typically reflect compensation vesting and are less informative about the insider's market view than outright open-market purchases.