Not every company is slashing its dividend these days. Some of the market's better performers are easing up on their purse strings and sending more money out to their shareholders.

Readers of Income Investor can appreciate that kind of thinking. So let's take a closer look at four of the companies that inched their payouts higher over the past few days.

Let's start with Monro Muffler Brake (NASDAQ:MNRO). The auto-repair chain's quarterly dividend is being jacked up by 17% to $0.07 a share. It makes sense that Monro is performing well in this economic climate. If drivers are holding on to their cars longer, they'll spend more time pulling into Monro to replace brake pads, mufflers, and tires.  

Next, we have Lowe's (NYSE:LOW) building up its payouts. The home-improvement retailer's quarterly disbursements are growing by 6% to $0.09 a share. Lowe's made the announcement during its annual shareholder meeting. The chain posted better-than-expected results last month, but it's still a tough market for companies such as Lowe's and larger rival Home Depot (NYSE:HD), which lean on the housing market for support.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) is another bumper-upper. The health-care products and services giant is entering a hazy future, but it wants to make sure its shareowners are well armed. Cardinal investors will be receiving $0.175 a share every three months, a 25% improvement.

Finally, let's look at Universal Health Realty Income Trust (NYSE:UHT). The health-care REIT is increasing its quarterly distributions to $0.595 a share. That's less than  a 1% uptick, but it's OK to split pennies in the pursuit of fatter payouts.

Some of these moves may not seem like much, but consider the less savory moves that took place in recent days:

  • Monroe Bancorp, clearly not to be confused with Monro Muffler Brake, became the latest bank to slash its dividend to a token $0.01 per share.  
  • Steelmaker Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) is cutting its quarterly dividend by 25%.

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

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