Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) shares are a popular option for Aussie investors.
In fact, in its most recent annual report, the telco giant estimates that it has around 1.1 million shareholders.
That means that approximately 1 in 24 Australians have the company's shares in their portfolio.
And even if you don't own them directly, there's a high probability that you will have some exposure to the company through your superannuation fund.
As a result, the performance of Telstra shares can have an impact on the wealth of a significant number of people.
But was this impact positive or negative in 2024? Let's run the numbers.
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Was 2024 a good year for Telstra shares?
Unfortunately, it was a bit of a below-average year for the telco's shares last year.
They started the year at $3.96 and ended just five cents higher at $4.01. This means a modest 1.3% gain for the year, which was well short of the market's return.
This was disappointing for shareholders because Telstra actually delivered a solid result in FY 2024.
Telstra reported a 1% increase in total income to $23.5 billion. This reflects growth across Mobile, International, InfraCo fixed and Amplitel. Things were even more positive for Telstra's earnings, thanks largely to the key Mobile business.
Mobile earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 9.2% to $5,026 million due to high margin services revenue growth and cost-out. This underpinned a 3.6% lift in underlying EBITDA to $8.2 billion and a 7.5% jump in underlying net profit after tax to $2.3 billion.
As a comparison, Goldman Sachs was forecasting an underlying net profit after tax of $2.14 billion for the year.
This allowed Telstra to increase its dividends for the financial year to 18 cents per share. Which, based on its end of 2023 share price, meant an annual dividend yield of 4.5% for shareholders.
This means that in total, Telstra's shares delivered a return of approximately 5.8% for the 12 months.
This compares unfavourably to the ASX 200 index's total return of 11.2% in 2024.
Will things be better in 2025?
The team at Goldman Sachs sees scope for much stronger returns this year.
Its analysts have a buy rating and $4.50 price target on Telstra's shares. This would mean a rise of 12.2% for the year based on where they ended 2024.
In addition, an increase in the Telstra dividend to 19 cents per share is forecast. This represents a dividend yield of 4.7%, bringing the total potential return to 16.9%.
