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

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

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (EQH Quick QuoteEQH - Free Report) is headquartered in New York, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of 11.71% since the start of the year. The company is paying out a dividend of $0.30 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.25% compared to the Insurance - Multi line industry's yield of 1.57% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.43%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.20 is up 14.3% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Equitable Holdings, Inc. has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 9.67%. 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. Equitable Holdings's current payout ratio is 18%, meaning it paid out 18% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for EQH for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 is $7.20 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 15.94%.

From greatly improving stock investing profits and reducing overall portfolio risk to providing tax advantages, investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons. 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 EQH is not only an attractive dividend play, but also represents a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).