The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) enjoyed a day of relatively pleasant gains on the markets this Thursday – a nice contrast to the week we've had so far. The ASX 200 finished at 7,379.2 points, up by 0.13%. But one major ASX 200 constituent did far better than that. That would be the Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price.
Telstra shares ended the day trading for $4.07 apiece, up 2.01%. You might notice that's above the $4.05 Telstra had as its 52-week high before today. However, earlier in today's trading session it got even better, with the Telstra share price hitting $4.08. Now that is Telstra's new 52-week high.
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Telstra rings in new yearly high
So what's pushed Telstra to these new highs? The first thing to note is that today's share price efforts don't come out of the blue. This telco has been on what looks like a slow-but-steady march up for around a year now.
Back in October last year, Telstra hit a low of $2.68 a share — a level the company is now more than 50% above. Year to date in 2021, Telstra has gained a healthy 35%. That includes around 20% over the past 6 months and around 6% over the past month.
But there have been some factors that have arguably been feeding into this rise as well.
The first is Telstra's coveted dividend. This telco had to swat away rumours that its long-held 16 cents per share annual dividend would have to be trimmed. It was looking a little dicey last year with the pandemic and all. But Telstra managed to ride out the storm with its dividend intact. It has maintained this payout for its 2021 dividends as well.
Another factor that the market seems to have responded well to is Telstra's ongoing restructuring efforts. It successfully separated its business into 4 divisions – InfraCo Towers, InfraCo Fixed, ServeCo, and Telstra International – earlier in the year.
Additionally, it has also successfully offloaded a major stake in its InfraCo Towers business in a sale that priced these assets at a 28x earnings multiple.
With talk of more sales down the track emerging over 2021, investors have clearly reappraised Telstra shares for this potential upside.
At Telstra's closing share price of $4.07, this telco has a market capitalisation of $48.4 billion. Its 16 cents per share annual dividend is worth a yield of 3.93%.
