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 hiked their dividends. It's not just about the money. A company opening its wallet wider probably has improving fundamentals to back up that generosity.

Readers of our 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 over the past week.

Let's start with Watsco (NYSE: WSO). The air conditioning, heating, and refrigerating player knows all about adjusting the thermostat, heating things up with a 21% boost to its quarterly dividend. Investors will now be on the receiving end of $0.40 a share every three months.

Speedway Motorsports (NYSE: TRK) is also putting the pedal to the metal. The auto racing promoter and venue operator is inching its quarterly payout higher by 2% to $0.335 a share.

CCA Industries (AMEX: CAW) is another hiker. The maker of health and beauty aids prettied up its quarterly disbursements, bumping its dividend 29% higher to $0.09 a share. That may not seem like a lot, but with CCA's share price trading in the single digits, the move blesses the company with a juicy 3% yield. Take that, Avon (NYSE: AVP) and Helen of Troy (Nasdaq: HELE).

Finally we have RPM (NYSE: RPM). The industrial coatings and sealants specialist is no stranger to the yield-pumping ritual. It's an annual event. The company has increased its quarterly dividend rate for 34 consecutive years with Thursday's move, a 9% upgrade to $0.19 a share.

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's 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.