This Tuesday, the last day to buy Telefónica shares with a dividend option

Criteria Caixa continues with its purchases of securities

MADRID, 29 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Telefónica has started the dividend roadmap with this Tuesday, May 31, as the first key date, since it is the last day on which the operator's shares with the right to receive the dividend of 0.148 euros per share can be purchased on the market. .

Telefónica will distribute this June the second tranche of its flexible interim dividend for the 2021 financial year and with it it will say goodbye to the 'scrip dividend', which allows the shareholder to choose between being remunerated with titles or in cash.

The operator will have to increase capital to respond to this dividend for a maximum of 873.6 million euros with which it will issue 189.1 million shares of the firm, the equivalent of 3.2% of the share capital, in the event of that all shareholders opt for the shares.

In recent times, around two thirds of the shareholders have opted for this method. To obtain a new Telefónica share as a result of the dividend, 31 rights will be necessary, while the limit to sell the rights back to the operator and opt for cash payment is set at June 9.

On the 16th, Telefónica will pay this tranche to the shareholders and will announce the magnitude of the capital increase necessary to remunerate the rest of its holders.

Telefónica shares reach the dividend bordering on annual highs and with an increase in value of over 28% so far this year.

One of the most active institutional investors in Telefónica in recent weeks has been Criteria Caixa, which continues to build its position and already controls 1.33% of the operator, according to its last update in April.

Since this update, the firm has continued with its purchases and so far in May it has acquired another 435,000 operator titles with an investment of over two million euros, according to notifications sent to the National Stock Market Commission. Securities (CNMV) and analyzed by Europa Press.

For this share package, Criteria could receive around 11 million euros in dividend or just over 2.4 million new shares of the company to continue building its position.

Along with Criteria, three large institutional investors stand out in Telefónica's capital: BlackRock, CaixaBank and BBVA.

In the case of the largest asset manager in the world and the Catalan entity, both had positions of 4.48% and 4.49%, respectively, at the end of the year, according to Telefónica's annual corporate governance report.

This gives them the right to receive more than 37 million euros or eight million shares in the current dividend.

For its part, BBVA, with 4.99% of the shares, chooses to receive 41.65 million euros or, failing that, just over nine million company shares.