In early morning trade today, shares of telecommunications heavyweight Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) reached a high of $6.19 per share, a level not seen since June 2000.
Buoyed by its operational strength, divestments of legacy assets and growth in Asia, coupled with the backdrop of low interest rates, Telstra's share price is up 87% over the past three years.
When dividends are included the return blows out to around 110%.
Source: Google Finance. Click to enlarge.
Is it time to buy?
At a current $6.17, an investment in Telstra doesn't come cheap. Whilst its growth in Asia appears promising, it's not risk free.
Throughout Australia, it also stands to benefit from the increasing use of internet-enabled devices and lucrative payments from the government's NBN Co.
The problem for buyers is, its medium-term growth appears priced into the shares.
Therefore despite a juicy 4.9% fully franked dividend yield, it's probably best left on the watchlist for now.
However whilst Telstra may be out of the buy-zone, our top analysts have just come up with three great dividend ideas to buy today (see below).
