Whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities, all investors love seeing their portfolios score big returns. However, 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.

East West Bancorp in Focus

Headquartered in Pasadena, East West Bancorp (EWBC) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of 4.56% so far this year. The bank holding company is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.55 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.4%. This compares to the Banks - West industry's yield of 2.67% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.49%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $2.40 is up 9.1% from last year. In the past five-year period, East West Bancorp has increased its dividend 4 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 18.47%. Any future dividend growth will depend on both earnings growth and the company's payout ratio; a payout ratio is the proportion of a firm's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. East West Bancorp's current payout ratio is 26%. This means it paid out 26% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for EWBC for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 is $8.82 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 6.27%.

Bottom Line

Investors like dividends for many reasons; they greatly improve stock investing profits, decrease overall portfolio risk, and carry tax advantages, among others. 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, EWBC 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).

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