Sydney, Feb 26, 2026, 18:30 AEDT — Market closed.
- Telstra shares rose 1.0% to A$5.14, a day after a 3.1% ex-dividend slide
- Telstra disclosed it bought back 1.33 million shares in its latest daily notice
- Dividend record date falls on Feb. 26, with DRP elections due Friday and cash due March 27
Telstra Group Limited (ASX:TLS) shares ended Thursday up 1.0% at A$5.14, recovering part of the prior session’s 3.1% drop when the stock began trading ex-dividend. The broader market was firmer, with the S&P/ASX 200 up about 0.5%. (Investing.com Australia)
The timing matters more than usual for a stock that sits in a lot of income portfolios. Telstra’s interim dividend clock is running this week, so price moves can look jumpy as short-term holders switch around the “who gets paid” dates and longer-term investors do the maths on yield.
In a dividend filing, Telstra set the interim distribution at 10.5 Australian cents a share and said it will be 90.48% franked — meaning most of it carries a tax credit for Australian investors. Shares traded without the dividend entitlement from Feb. 25, with the record date on Feb. 26 and payment due March 27, the filing showed. (Company Announcements)
The same document laid out the next near-term checkpoint: the dividend reinvestment plan (DRP) election deadline is 5 p.m. on Friday. Telstra said the DRP price will be based on the average volume-weighted average price (VWAP) — a trading-day average weighted by volume — over March 2 to March 6, with no discount. (Company Announcements)
Separately, Telstra’s latest daily buy-back notice showed it purchased 1,334,100 shares at prices between A$5.09 and A$5.14, spending about A$6.84 million. The company has now bought back about 134.8 million shares for about A$661 million in total consideration under the program, the filing showed. (Company Announcements)
Telstra is running an on-market buyback — it buys shares on the exchange like any other investor — and the company said the plan is for up to about A$1.25 billion in value and can run through June 30, 2026, though it can be paused. (Company Announcements)
Management has argued the buyback is meant to do some of the heavy lifting for per-share metrics. “The on-market share buy-back is expected to support earnings and dividend per share growth,” CEO Vicki Brady said in the company’s half-year results presentation transcript. (Telstra.com)
The backdrop is still the same old telecom grind: Telstra leads the local market, but it has to defend share against Singtel-owned Optus and TPG Telecom in mobile, while broadband competition plays out over the NBN. Investors tend to treat the stock as a yield and capital-management story as much as a pure growth bet.
But the dividend-and-buyback support is not a one-way trade. Once the record date passes, some short-term money can drift back out, and the buyback pace can change quickly if volumes, blackout periods or market conditions shift. Any renewed price pressure in mobiles or broadband would also land straight in the earnings debate.
For the next session and into next week, traders are watching Friday’s DRP election deadline, then the March 2–6 pricing window that sets the DRP share price, ahead of the March 27 cash payment. The buyback notices will keep coming in the background, one day at a time.
