4 Stocks That Took a Hike

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I love to kick off the new trading week by taking a peek at companies that have just raised their dividends. A company that's easing up on its pocketbook probably has improving fundamentals to back up that generosity.

Readers of the Income Investor newsletter service can appreciate that kind of thinking. So let's look at four of the companies that inched their payouts higher over the past week.

Let's start with CBRL Group (Nasdaq: CBRL). The company behind the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store havens to comfort food and adjacent throwback gift shops put some pump in its dumplings. CBRL is raising its quarterly dividend by 11% to $0.20 a share.

CBRL's payout boost comes as it initiated upbeat guidance for the year ahead. CBRL expects sales at the individual store level to be positive this year, an impressive feat in a moribund casual-dining industry.

The Buckle (NYSE: BKE) also cashed in on the fashion of fatter disbursements. The retailer hit the trifecta by declaring a stock split and a special $3-per-share one-time distribution, as well as raising its quarterly dividend by 20% to $0.30 a share. Retail isn't dead, as The Buckle joins consumer-facing chains Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), Village Super Market (Nasdaq: VLGEA), and Ethan Allen (NYSE: ETH) in jacking up their yields.

Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) is another booster. The chipmaker's new dividend of $0.11 a share every three months is a 10% improvement over the previous rate. The company has now increased its payouts in each of the past five years. Semiconductor stocks are cyclical, but TI has done a good job of keeping the pocket change flowing and growing.

If you think a five-year streak is pretty good, belly up to Brady (NYSE: BRC). The safety-products company has pumped up its dividends for 23 years in a row. Its latest upgrade came last week, when Brady delivered a 13% increase to its distributions. Investors will now be receiving $0.17 a share every quarter.

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

Want to see what's being recommended these days? Give the newsletter service a shot with a 30-day trial subscription. Who knows? Maybe the next thing to get an increase will be your interest.