Whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities, all investors love seeing their portfolios score big returns. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus.While cash flow can come from bond interest or interest from other types of investments, income investors hone in on 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.Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Inc. In FocusHeadquartered in Archbold, Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Inc. (FMAO) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of 4.57% so far this year. The company is paying out a dividend of $0.17 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.83% compared to the Banks - Northeast industry's yield of 2.13% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.42%.Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $0.68 is up 3% from last year. In the past five-year period, Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Inc. has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 9.96%. 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. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Inc.'s current payout ratio is 41%, meaning it paid out 41% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.Earnings growth looks solid for FMAO for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 is $1.77 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 5.36%.Bottom LineFrom 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. With that in mind, FMAO presents a compelling investment opportunity; it's not only an attractive dividend play, but the stock also boasts a strong Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).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 Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Inc. (FMAO): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here.