Java return the Object/modify the object (coding guidelines)

Question

If a method populates/modifies an object, would it be preferable to return the object or to keep the return type as void and the method would modify the Object through its r

Answer 1

The second one is less confusing to me, because it isn't clear from the first one if returned and passed objects are the same, and I don't find it normal to ignore a returned value.