Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) shares are out of form on Wednesday.
At the time of writing, the telco giant's shares are down 2.5% to $4.86.
This compares unfavourably to the ASX 200 index, which is up 0.1% this afternoon.
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Why are Telstra shares falling?
The good news is that today's decline has nothing to do with a broker downgrade or a trading update.
Instead, the decline has been driven by the company's shares going ex-dividend this morning for its latest payout.
When a share goes ex-dividend, it means the rights to the upcoming payout are now locked in.
As a result, anyone that is buying its shares today won't be entitled to receive this dividend when it is paid. It will go to the seller of the shares even though they no longer own them.
Given that a dividend forms part of a company's valuation, its share price will usually fall in line with the value of the dividend.
The Telstra dividend
Earlier this month, Telstra released its full year results and reported a 14% increase in EBITDA to $8.6 billion. And on an underlying basis, its EBITDA was up 4.6% on the prior corresponding period.
A key driver of its growth was the key mobile business. Mobile services revenue grew by 3.5% and Mobile EBITDA grew $235 million year on year. This was thanks to higher average revenue per user (ARPU).
The company's CEO, Vicki Brady, commented:
FY25 was a strong year for Telstra as we continued to deliver for customers and shareholders. We delivered our fourth consecutive year of underlying growth, reflecting momentum across our business, strong cost control and disciplined capital management.
This strong performance allowed the Telstra board to declare a fully franked final dividend of 9.5 cents per share, which brought its total dividends for FY 2025 to 19 cents per share for FY 2025. This is an increase of 5.6% year on year.
It is that final dividend that Telstra's shares are going ex-dividend for today. And based on yesterday's close price of $4.98, it represents an attractive 1.9% dividend yield.
This means that investors with $20,000 invested in the telco leader's shares would be getting a pay check of approximately $380 when pay day comes around.
Speaking of which, eligible shareholders can look forward to receiving this payout in a touch under one month on 25 September.
