Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) is reaching its restructuring goal, and a quarter earlier than anticipated, having reduced its annual operating expenses by $1 billion.

CEO John Chambers seemed pleased with the execution of their three-year plan, “Our operational focus continues to yield positive results — we hit our billion dollar expense reduction a quarter early — and our ongoing innovation enables our customers to solve their critical business needs.”

Chambers commented that while Cisco has stayed out of mergers and acquisitions until now, that’s going to change in the quarters and years to come.

A 20 percent rise in employee productivity to $724,000 is great news that goes hand in hand with the 6,500 employee cuts in the last six months. This only shows Cisco made the right restructuring decisions.

Cisco also announced its board declared a quarterly dividend of 8c per common share, a 2c increase over the previous quarter’s dividend, to be paid on April 25 to all shareholders of record as of the close of business on April 5. That’s sweet for shareholders.

Here’s how Cisco shares reacted to the news:

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO): CSCO shares recently traded at $20.00, down $0.43, or 2.1%. They have traded in a 52-week range of $13.30 to $20.45. Volume today was 131,133,144 shares versus a 3-month average volume of 46,964,300 shares. The company’s trailing P/E is 17.27, while trailing earnings are $1.16 per share.

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