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.
Readers of the Motley Fool Income Investor newsletter can certainly appreciate that kind of thinking. Let's take a closer look at some of the companies that inched their payouts higher this past week.
Let's start with UPS (NYSE: UPS ) . The parcel-delivery giant increased its quarterly dividend by 4% to $0.47 a share. That may not seem like much, but UPS's distributions have doubled over the past seven years.
Hasbro (NYSE: HAS ) also bumped its yield higher on Thursday, ahead of this morning's quarterly report. The toymaker's new rate -- $0.25 a share every three months -- is up by 25%.
AGL Resources (NYSE: AGL ) is also boosting its disbursements. The natural gas provider's new payout is $0.44 a share every three months, a 2% upgrade. AGL Resources, based in Atlanta, has been paying uninterrupted dividends since 1948.
Finally, we have Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL ) . The consumer-goods company is jacking up its quarterly distributions by 20% to $0.53 a share. If AGL Resources' streak sounds impressive, consider this: Colgate-Palmolive hasn't missed a dividend since 1895.
Some of these moves may not seem like much, but there are plenty of companies that haven't been able to support even their current dividends lately. Sunoco (NYSE: SUN ) , SUPERVALU (NYSE: SVU ) , and Horizon Lines (NYSE: HRZ ) have all reduced their quarterly payouts.
Subscribers to the Income Investor service 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 we're recommending these days? Go ahead and give the newsletter service a shot with a 30-day trial. Who knows? Maybe the next thing to get hiked will be your interest.
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