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. So let's take a closer look at some of the companies that inched their payouts higher this past week.

We can start with Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) (NASDAQ:CMCSK). The asset-hungry cable giant is boosting its quarterly dividend 40% to $0.0945 a share. This is Comcast's second upgrade over the past year.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) is also on the move. The steel giant's new quarterly rate of $0.36 a share is a 3% improvement. Nucor has now come through with 37 consecutive years of chunkier distributions.

Toro (NYSE:TTC) is also running with the bulls. The maker of lawn-care vehicles and irrigation systems is sprucing up its shareholder greenery. Investors will now receive $0.18 a share every three months, 20% ahead of its previous disbursements.

Finally, we have Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) cleaning up nicely. The provider of institutional-sanitization products is jacking up its quarterly payout by 11% to $0.155 a share. Ecolab extends an 18-year streak of annual dividend increases.

Some of these moves may not seem like much, but consider the companies going the other way. Sterling Bancshares (NASDAQ:SBIB), for example, slashed its dividend last week.

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

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