SAN FRANCISCO (Bloomberg) — Cisco Systems Inc., the largest maker of networking equipment, plans to initiate the company's first dividend this fiscal year.

The "current thinking" is for a dividend yield of one percent to two percent, according to a presentation at the annual analyst conference today at Cisco's headquarters in San Jose, California.

In June, chief executive officer John Chambers reiterated plans to pay a dividend, once the economy and the company's stock strengthens. The company is expanding into more than 30 new markets as Cisco looks for ways to reach a long-term goal of increasing revenue at least 12 percent a year.

Cisco rose 71 cents, or 3.3 percent, to $21.97 at 12:16 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The shares jumped as much as 4.3 percent, the most since July 29.

Chambers told the conference today that the economy has become "bumpy," compared with three months ago. During the recession, Cisco used acquisitions to build up the company. It has paid more than $4.5 billion to buy more than a dozen companies since the start of 2009 as businesses delayed spending on infrastructure during the recession.