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 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.Matthews International in FocusMatthews International (MATW) is headquartered in Pittsburgh, and is in the Consumer Staples sector. The stock has seen a price change of 17.72% since the start of the year. The casket and memorial manufacturer is paying out a dividend of $0.22 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.48% compared to the Funeral Services industry's yield of 1.77% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.33%.In terms of dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.86 is up 2.4% from last year. Matthews International has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 6.66%. 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. Matthews International's current payout ratio is 25%. This means it paid out 25% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.Earnings growth looks solid for MATW for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 is $3.14 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 4.32%.Bottom LineInvestors 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 must be conscious of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, MATW 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). Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases. Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +50%, +83% and +164% in as little as 2 months. The stocks in this report could perform even better.See these 7 breakthrough stocks now>>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Matthews International Corporation (MATW): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here.