All investors love getting big returns from their portfolio, whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities. 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 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 make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.Franklin Resources in FocusHeadquartered in San Mateo, Franklin Resources (BEN) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of 8% so far this year. The investment manager is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.28 per share, with a dividend yield of 4.15%. This compares to the Financial - Investment Management industry's yield of 1.34% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.43%.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, Franklin Resources has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 10.68%. Future dividend growth will depend on earnings growth as well as payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Right now, Franklin Resources's payout ratio is 42%, which means it paid out 42% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.Looking at this fiscal year, BEN expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 is $3.04 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 16.48%.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. 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. With that in mind, BEN 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 Franklin Resources, Inc. (BEN): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research