Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) shares edged lower in the month just past.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) telco provider closed out August trading for $4.89 each. At the closing bell on 30 September, those shares were swapping hands for $4.82 apiece.
This saw Telstra shares down 1.4% over the month just past, mirroring the 1.4% losses posted by the ASX 200 over this same period.
Here's what's been happening with Australia's biggest telco.
Image source: Getty Images
Telstra shares rain dividends
There was no fresh price-sensitive news out from Telstra in September. But that doesn't mean there wasn't a lot going on.
When Telstra reported its full-year FY 2025 results in August, the telco revealed it achieved a 2.6% year-on-year increase in underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) to $2.2 billion. This saw management boost the final fully franked Telstra dividend by 5.6% to 9.5 cents per share.
And on 25 September, eligible stockholders will have seen that welcome passive income hit their bank accounts. Now, that shouldn't have impacted the Telstra share price performance in September, as the stock traded ex-dividend back on 27 August.
ASX 200 telco eyes Optus grief
Telstra shares were in sharp focus in the latter weeks of September, following news that chief rival Optus had suffered disastrous failures in its Triple Zero services.
This came after an apparently botched software maintenance update at the Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SGX: Z74) owned telco shut down Optus' Triple Zero services. Tragically, three people were reported to have died after they or others on their behalf tried, and failed, to reach 000 via Optus.
Are Telstra shares a good buy?
If it's passive income you're after, Telstra stock trades on a fully franked, 3.9% trailing dividend yield.
As for potential share price outperformance from the ASX 200 telco, consensus analyst opinions are mixed.
Morgans, for example, recently retained its hold recommendation on Telstra shares, partly based on the telco's FY 2026 guidance.
According to the broker:
TLS's FY25 result was largely as expected and FY26 guidance was slightly below expectations. That said new guidance metrics for FY26 change the focus. Mobile traction slowed in the year, with revenue and EBITDA slightly below consensus and our forecasts. Mobile Underlying EBITDA lifted ~5% YoY.
Morgans has a $4.70 share price target on the ASX 200 telco, which is some 3% below today's intraday price of $4.86 a share.
Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) has a more bullish outlook for the company. The broker has an outperform rating on Telstra shares with a $5.03 price target.
