All investors love getting big returns from their portfolio, whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities. However, when you're an income investor, your primary focus is generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments.

Cash flow can come from bond interest, interest from other types of investments, and, of course, dividends. A dividend is the distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders; it's often viewed by its dividend yield, a metric that measures a dividend as a percent of the current stock price. Many academic studies show that dividends make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.

Based in Marietta, Peoples Bancorp (PEBO Quick QuotePEBO - Free Report) is in the Finance sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of 12.72%. The financial services and products company is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.41 per share, with a dividend yield of 4.84%. This compares to the Banks - Midwest industry's yield of 2.74% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.47%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.64 is up 0.6% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Peoples Bancorp has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 3.63%. Looking ahead, future dividend growth will be dependent on earnings growth and payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Peoples Bancorp's current payout ratio is 53%, meaning it paid out 53% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Looking at this fiscal year, PEBO expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 is $3.39 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 8.65%.

Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. But, not every company offers a quarterly payout.

High-growth firms or tech start-ups, for example, rarely provide their shareholders a dividend, while larger, more established companies that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options. Income investors have to be mindful of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. That said, they can take comfort from the fact that PEBO is not only an attractive dividend play, but is also a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).