While August reporting season will undoubtedly bring a few surprises – some positive and some negative – when it comes to major blue-chip stocks such as Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) few surprises are expected.
The main reason blue-chips are unlikely to surprise to any great degree is because they are so widely followed and scrutinised by the investor, fund manager, stockbroking and analyst community.
For this reason, the forecast final dividend for Telstra of 15 cents per share (cps) could almost be described as a 'sure thing'!
Adding the expected final dividend to the telecommunication giant's interim dividend of 15 cps suggests Telstra is trading on a fully franked dividend yield of 4.7%.
Looking out towards the next few reporting periods and the consensus analyst forecast for Telstra's dividends are highly likely to be very close to the mark – in fact they may even be spot on!
Based on data supplied by Morningstar, Telstra is expected to pay a total dividend for the current 2016 financial year (FY) of 31.7 cps, with the dividend rising to 32.5 cps in FY 2017.
These forecasts imply that Telstra's stock is trading on forward yields of 4.9% and 5.1% respectively.
That's certainly appealing compared with the rates being offered on most bank deposit accounts – particularly considering the apparent sustainability of Telstra's dividend.
There are however some other stocks which arguably are offering even more appealing yields even after accounting for their less defensive and secure earnings bases.
National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB) is forecast to report growing dividends over the next few years. Based on the forecast for FY 2016 of 198.5 cps, the stock is trading on a fully franked dividend yield of 5.9%.
Platinum Asset Management Limited (ASX: PTM) is another top stock that is forecast to pay out a stream of growing dividends. In FY 2016 total dividends of 38.4 cps are expected which implies the stock is trading on a fully franked dividend yield of 5.2%.
