Tim McAleenan Jr. escribió un artículo muy interesante sobre el scrip dividend de Shell a principios del 2017. Te dejo el link y el extracto que analiza su efecto dilutivo
https://theconservativeincomeinvestor.com/royal-dutch-shell-stocks-scrip-dividend/
Scrip dividends, on the other hand, reflect a new issuance of stock from the company directly to you. The Royal Dutch Shell Board of Directors grants the authority for new shares to get created that dilute the existing shareholder base, and it enables the company to evade payment for the dividend—they are surrendering part of the ownership of everybody else (of course, if they had to pay a cash dividend, their balance sheet would have less cash available and would trade for less).
Right now, Shell has 4,060,000,000 shares outstanding. It pays a $0.94 quarterly dividend, and about 25% of Shell shareholders receive scrip dividends. Essentially, a value of $0.235 per share is being transmitted through the issuance of new shares. With each scrip dividend payment, Shell dilutes itself by $954,000,000. At a current Royal Dutch Shell stock price of $55 per share, this means that 17.3 million new shares of Shell get created through each quarterly scrip dividend payment.
Despite all of this talk of dilution, the effect isn’t all that substantial. Over the course of a year, 69.2 million new shares get created via scrip. That amounts to annual dilution of about 1.7% of the shareholder base. It is not something that Shell shareholders should get excited about, but it is a tolerable maneuver during a down cycle when profits are lower and debt financing carries an interest rate between 3-6% depending on the length until the note’s maturity.
For the most part, I am agnostic regarding the differences. A lot of investors that I respect tend to highly favor cash dividends because they are real, represent a portion of existing cash flows because it is money actually withdrawn from a corporation’s treasury, and don’t dilute the existing ownership base during a time when the RDS stock is being given away for less than it’s worth.
My view is that scrip dividends are capable of being rational for all parties involved—the company’s management team, the existing shareholder base, and the portion of the existing shareholder base that is receiving new shares.
If you own 10,000 shares of Shell, you have the right to receive $9,400 in cash when the Board of Directors declares a $0.94 dividend. The person opting for the scrip dividend is entitled to something of the same value, and shares at the current market price worth $9,400 seems like a fair way to transfer that value. If you think it is so terribly dilutive and such a good deal for those electing to receive scrip, you can always switch from receiving Shell dividends as cash and instead join the program. A good way to test whether you actually believe what you’re saying when you claim something is “rigged” is to self-examine your decision-making to see if you are taking steps to put yourself on the side that benefits from the rigging. My hunch is that most investors don’t think the company is being given away via scrip, otherwise you’d see more than 25% of the shareholder base participate in the program.