Whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities, all investors love seeing their portfolios score big returns. But 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.

Hanmi Financial (HAFC Quick QuoteHAFC - Free Report) is headquartered in Los Angeles, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of 19.72% since the start of the year. The bank holding company is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.28 per share, with a dividend yield of 3.46%. This compares to the Banks - West industry's yield of 2.53% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.34%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.12 is up 3.7% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Hanmi Financial has increased its dividend 3 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 26.70%. 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. Hanmi Financial's current payout ratio is 42%, meaning it paid out 42% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for HAFC for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 is $3.16 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 25.90%.

From greatly improving stock investing profits and reducing overall portfolio risk to providing tax advantages, investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons. It's important to keep in mind that not all companies provide 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 HAFC is not only an attractive dividend play, but also represents a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).