Topic: How To Invest

Dividend Advisor Hotline – Friday, September 29, 2023

Article Excerpt

CISCO SYSTEMS INC., $53.76, Nasdaq symbol CSCO, is a buy. Through the stock, investors tap a global producer of hardware and software that links and manages computer networks. Cisco last raised your quarterly dividend with the April 2023 payment. Investors now receive $0.39 a share, up 2.6% from $0.38. The new annual rate of $1.56 yields a solid 2.9%. The company is now buying Splunk Inc. (Nasdaq symbol SPLK), which makes software that lets organizations analyze their data in real time. That helps clients quickly identify and respond to potential data failures and breaches. The company will pay $28 billion in cash for Splunk. To put that price in context, its market cap (the total value of all outstanding shares) is $218.0 billion. Cisco also held cash and short-term investments of $26.15 billion as of July 29, 2023. The purchase will enhance Cisco’s current cybersecurity software business. Their combined expertise in artificial intelligence will also help clients better anticipate and prevent cyberattacks. Cisco expects to complete the…