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 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 account for significant portions of long-term returns, with dividend contributions exceeding one-third of total returns in many cases.Bryn Mawr Bank in FocusHeadquartered in Bryn Mawr, Bryn Mawr Bank (BMTC) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of 28.49% so far this year. The bank holding company is paying out a dividend of $0.27 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.75% compared to the Banks - Northeast industry's yield of 1.99% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.37%.In terms of dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.08 is up 1.9% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Bryn Mawr Bank has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis 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. Bryn Mawr Bank's current payout ratio is 35%, meaning it paid out 35% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.Earnings growth looks solid for BMTC for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 is $2.76 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 68.29%.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.For instance, it's a rare occurrence when a tech start-up or big growth business offers their shareholders a dividend. It's more common to see larger companies with more established profits give out dividends. 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, BMTC 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 Bryn Mawr Bank Corporation (BMTC): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here.