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 out to their shareholders.

Readers of the 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 Staples (Nasdaq: SPLS). The world's largest office supply superstore is whipping out its calculators to adjust its quarterly distributions 9% higher to $0.09 a share. Economy watchers should be heartened if the perfect proxy for Corporate America spending is comfortable with returning more of its greenbacks to investors.

Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT) is also chipping in with its own hike. The tech bellwether's new quarterly payout of $0.07 a share is a 17% upgrade. Applied Materials is also initiating a $2 billion share repurchase program.

Lennox International's (NYSE: LII) rate is also heating up. The heating and air conditioning specialist will be mailing out checks to its shareholders for $0.15 a share every three months, a 7% improvement.

Finally we have Medicis (NYSE: MRX) checking in with a healthier dividend. The pharmaceutical company with an emphasis on dermatological and aesthetic treatments is jacking up its yield by 50%. Its new quarterly disbursements will be $0.06 a share.

It was a good week for yield chasers, as these four companies were joined by others including Cohen & Steers (NYSE: CNS), Inter Parfums (Nasdaq: IPAR), and One Liberty Properties (NYSE: OLP) returning more money to their shareholders.

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.

Subscribers to the 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.