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.

While cash flow can come from bond interest or interest from other types of investments, income investors hone in on 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 Eau Claire, Citizens Community Bancorp, Inc. (CZWI Quick QuoteCZWI - Free Report) is in the Finance sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of 15.32%. The company is paying out a dividend of $0.10 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.04% compared to the Financial - Savings and Loan industry's yield of 2.58% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.39%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.42 is up 16.7% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Citizens Community Bancorp, Inc. has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 11.77%. 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. Citizens Community Bancorp's current payout ratio is 25%, meaning it paid out 25% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

CZWI is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 is $1.75 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 19.86%.

Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. However, not all companies offer a quarterly payout.

Big, established firms that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options, but it's fairly uncommon to see high-growth businesses or tech start-ups offer their stockholders a dividend. Income investors have to be mindful of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, CZWI is a compelling investment opportunity. Not only is it a strong dividend play, but the stock currently sits at a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).