4 Stocks That Took a Hike

I love to kick off the new trading week by taking a quick peek at companies that have just raised their dividends. It's not just about the money. A company that is easing up on its pocketbook probably has improving fundamentals to back up that generosity.

Readers of the Income Investor newsletter can certainly appreciate that kind of thinking. Let's take a closer look at four of the companies that inched their payouts higher this past week.

We'll start with H.B. Fuller (NYSE: FUL  ) . The maker of adhesives, sealants, and paint products knows how to stick on those shareholders. The chemicals specialist is increasing its dividend by 3% to $0.0645. Not enough? Fuller is splitting pennies? You're missing the point here. The act of going forward is almost as important as the extra pocket change.

Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM  ) was another hiker. The patent-rich wireless communications company upped its quarterly payout from $0.12 a share to $0.14 per share. Even as Qualcomm battles Nokia (NYSE: NOK  ) for fatter royalty checks, the company is clearly comfortable sharing the wealth with its investors.

International Speedway (Nasdaq: ISCA  ) was another speedster. The company behind the Daytona 500, all of those Talladega nights, and many more motorsports events and venues revved up its annual dividend. A 25% push on the accelerator finds the company paying $0.10 per share this year.

Then we have IDEX (NYSE: IEX  ) . The diversified machinery specialist boosted its quarterly dividend by 20% to $0.18 a share -- or $0.12 a share after its upcoming 3-for-2 stock split.

Subscribers to the Income Investor newsletter can appreciate the companies sending more and more money to their investors. The newsletter singles out companies that are committed to growing their distributions with market-thumping results.

Want to see what is being recommended these days? Go ahead and give the newsletter service a shot with a 30-day trial subscription. Who knows? Maybe the next thing that will get hiked will be your interest.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz pays attention to yield signs. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.