It's hard to believe that as recently as mid-2011 Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) was an unloved stock trading below $3 a share and on a trailing dividend yield of around 9%!
Fast forward to today and Telstra has become the 'go-to' stock for yield-hungry investors, in the clamour the share price is trading above $5 and the dividend yield has contracted to 5.8%.
While Telstra's yield is nowhere near as appealing today as it was back in 2011, at 5.8% it is still a whole lot better than the yield offered by many other stocks and certainly compared with a bank deposit account!
Despite still offering an attractive fully franked dividend, there are other stocks available to investors which are arguably even more appealing today. Consider taking a closer look at the following four stocks if you want to beat Telstra's yield…
- National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB) – amongst the 'Big Four' banks, NAB is a standout in terms of its yield. Based on Thomson Consensus Estimates the stock is set to pay a fully franked dividend of 198 cents per share (cps) in financial year (FY) 2016 which implies a yield of 7%.
- Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN) – looking outside of the 'Big Four' and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank looks appealing from a yield point of view with the stock forecast to pay a fully franked dividend of 68 cps in FY 2016. With the share price at $11, this implies a forecast yield of 6.2%.
- Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (ASX: NEC) – the television station owner is expected to grow its dividend payments over the next few years according to consensus forecasts. With a forecast of a fully franked dividend of 13 cps in FY 2016, the stock is potentially offering a yield of 7.2%.
- G8 Education Ltd (ASX: GEM) – Australia's largest childcare operator has experienced share price weakness in 2015 which hasn't been pleasant for shareholders but it has improved the potential dividend yield available. With the dividend forecast to rise from 24 cps in FY 2015 to 25 cps in FY 2016, the stock is trading on a fully franked yield of 7.6%.
