Cisco's dividend plan to increase its share price

Cisco (CSCO) shares rose in Tuesday as Cisco CEO John Chambers announced that it would start paying dividends in fiscal year 2011, with a dividend yield of 1% to 2% per cent, the company said in the early hours of September 15. Chambers announced the news at a company analyst meeting in California State San Jose.　　Until now, Wall Street had been rumoured to have said that Cisco would start paying dividends. Jeff Evenson, a market research firm Sanford Bernstein & Co analyst, said in a previous report that Cisco should start paying dividends with an annual dividend yield of 1% to 2% per cent. "We believe that the return of capital to shareholders, especially in the form of dividends, provides a stimulus to Cisco equities and will expand the shareholder base of investors who target yields," Evenson said.　　Evenson also noted that Cisco is one of the few companies in the S & P 500 index that does not currently pay dividends. On the same day, Cisco's share price rose 0.63 U.S. dollars to $21.89, or 2.96%, on the Nasdaq's regular trading date, as of 13:26 (1:26 15th, Beijing time). (Jinliang)