4 Dividend Stocks Showing You the Money

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

Let's take a closer look at four of the companies that inched their payouts higher this past week.

We'll start with McDonald's (NYSE: MCD). The world's largest fast-food chain boosted its quarterly dividend by 10%, to $0.55 a share. Yes, a single share of Mickey D's generates enough dividends to pay for a pair of Dollar Menu items in any given year (before taxes). The burger giant has beefed up its yield every year since initiating its payout policy in 1976.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is also mobilizing its liquid troops. The military contractor is increasing its distributions by 11%. Shareholders will now receive $0.63 a share every three months.

Sanderson Farms (Nasdaq: SAFM) isn't chicken about its disbursements. The poultry processor is replacing its $0.14-a-share quarterly dividend with a $0.15-a-share payout. It may just be a penny, but over time, it's certainly not chicken feed.

Finally, we have The First of Long Island (Nasdaq: FLIC) banking on meatier yields. The company behind The First National Bank of Long Island is growing its quarterly distributions by 11%, to $0.20 a share.

Some of these moves may not seem like much, but consider the less savory moves that took place in recent days. First Defiance Financial (Nasdaq: FDEF) unfortunately imitiated what larger banks Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) did back in January -- dramatically slashing its quarterly dividend.

Subscribers to the Motley Fool 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.