Hana Securities said on the 27th that SK Telecom is highly likely to resume dividends within the year. It kept its investment rating at "Buy" and raised its target price 45% to 80,000 won from 55,000 won. SK Telecom closed at 61,800 won in the previous trading day.
Kim Hong-sik, an analyst at Hana Securities, said, "Due to the fallout from the 2025 hacking incident, dividends for the third quarter of last year were not paid, and with large-scale voluntary retirement expense reflected, there is a high possibility that fourth-quarter dividends will either plunge year over year or not be paid," but added, "In 2026, a large gain is expected from selling equity in Anthropic, making an early normalization of dividends possible."
SK Telecom currently holds equity in the U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic and plans to sell it after an initial public offering (IPO). After listing, Anthropic's estimated market capitalization is about $40 billion, and SK Telecom's final ownership stake is about 0.4%. Hana Securities estimated that the resulting sale gain would reach about 1.5 trillion won.
Accordingly, Hana Securities raised its forecast for SK Telecom's dividends per share (DPS) to 3,500 won from 2,600 won. Based on this, the expected dividend yield is 5.6%, suggesting the current share price level is sufficiently attractive. Kim named SK Telecom the top pick within the telecom services sector.
It also said that if SK Telecom is selected as Korea's independent AI foundation model project operator, it will be officially recognized as a leading domestic AI company, and buying by state-backed funds is expected to flow in, which would be positive for supply-demand dynamics.