It has been a great time to own Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) shares.
Yesterday the telco giant's shares hit a multi-year high and today is payday for shareholders for its latest dividend.
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The Telstra dividend
Last month, Telstra released its half-year results and delivered a solid set of numbers.
For the six months ended 31 December, the company reported a 6.4% increase in total income to $11.6 billion and an 11.4% jump in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to $3.9 billion.
This was driven largely by momentum from its mobile business, as well as support from the recent acquisition of Digicel Pacific.
In respect to its mobile business, Telstra reported continued growth in revenue, average revenue per users (ARPU), services in operation (SIO), and earnings. Mobile services revenue was up 9.3%, postpaid handheld ARPU was up 4.5%, and SIOs were up by net 68,000 services.
In light of this strong performance, the Telstra board elected to increase its interim dividend by 6.3% to 8.5 cents per share. This is now being paid to eligible shareholders today.
What's next?
The good news for investors is that more of the same is expected in the second half.
According to a note out of Goldman Sachs, its analysts are forecasting a fully franked 8.5 cents per share final dividend. This will bring its full-year dividend to 17 cents per share, which will be up from the 16.5 cents per share dividend it paid in FY 2022.
After which, the broker is forecasting another increase to 18 cents per share in FY 2024.
Based on the current Telstra share price of $4.22, this will mean yields of 4% in FY 2023 and 4.25% in FY 2024.
Goldman also sees room for its shares to climb higher. The broker has a buy rating and $4.60 price target on them.
