When it comes to dividends, the Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) dividend is among the most popular on the Australian share market.
Or at least it has been historically. Over the last decade, a series of cuts has led to some income investors falling out of love with Telstra.
But the tide is now turning following the telco giant's first half results and analysts are becoming increasingly positive on the outlook of the Telstra dividend.
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The Telstra dividend
When Telstra released its half year results last week, the company's board elected to declare an 8 cents per share fully franked dividend. This was in line with last year's interim dividend and puts it on course to pay a 16 cents per share dividend again for the full year.
Incidentally, if you want to receive the latest Telstra dividend, you'll have to be a shareholder before its shares go ex-dividend on 2 March. After which, you can look forward to being paid at the very start of the following month on 1 April.
What about the future?
According to a note out of Goldman Sachs, its analysts don't believe it will be too long until the Telstra dividend starts to increase at long last.
Its analysts are forecasting fully franked dividends per share of 16 cents in FY 2022 and FY 2023, then 18 cents in FY 2024, and then 19 cents in FY 2025.
Based on the current Telstra share price of $3.90, this will mean yields of 4.1%, 4.6%, and then 4.9%.
Goldman currently has a neutral rating on the company's shares. Though, with a price target of $4.30, it sees potential upside of 10% for investors, which isn't bad considering its strong gains over the last 12 months.
