Bishop Alastair 4

What Happened

• Alastair Bishop, a portfolio manager for BlackRock Utilities, Infrastructure & Power Opportunities Trust (BUI), reported multiple derivative conversions/settlements and an award on Jan 30, 2026. The filing shows a grant/award of 3,437.791 phantom shares (derivative award) valued at $27.52/share (total $94,608) and a disposition to the issuer of 3,020.376 shares at $27.52/share for $83,121. Several other derivative exercise/conversion entries (829.381; 1,030.162; 1,160.834 shares) are listed with N/A price fields, indicating non-standard/cash-settled derivative conversions rather than open-market sales.

Key Details

• Transaction date: Jan 30, 2026.
• Notable entries:
  • Acquired (A): 3,437.791 phantom shares @ $27.52 = $94,608 (derivative award).
  • Disposed to issuer (D): 3,020.376 shares @ $27.52 = $83,121.
  • Exercise/conversion (M): 3,020.376 (acquired N/A), and additional M dispositions of 829.381; 1,030.162; 1,160.834 shares (prices reported as N/A).
• Shares owned after the transactions: not reported in the provided filing details.
• Footnotes: The awards are “phantom shares” (cash-settled equivalents of common stock) that vest in equal installments on each of the first three anniversaries of the grant. Footnotes reference prior grants on Jan 31 of 2023, 2024 and 2025 tied to the same vesting schedule.
• Filing timeliness: the Form 4 was filed Feb 3, 2026 for transactions dated Jan 30, 2026; no indication in the provided data that the filing was late.

Context

• These were derivative/phantom-share transactions (not open-market purchases). Phantom shares are cash-settled on vesting, so the A-line reflects a grant/accrual of a cash-settled award and the M/D lines reflect conversion/settlement activity rather than a standard buy or sell on the market.
• Because phantom shares pay in cash when they vest, these entries are primarily compensation/settlement-related and do not directly signal a straightforward purchase-based vote of confidence in the stock price.