Last year may have been a year of dividend slashing, but there are now more and more companies committed to sending more money out to their shareholders in 2010.
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 Walgreen (NYSE: WAG ) . The drugstore chain is prescribing chunkier yields for its shareholders, upping the dose of its quarterly dividend by 27% to $0.175 a share. Unlike rival Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD ) , which hasn't declared a distribution in a couple of years and does not plan one in the foreseeable future, Walgreen has boosted its rate in each of the past 35 years.
Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD ) is another gusher, propping up its quarterly distributions by 6% to $0.575 a share. The midstream energy services provider has jacked up its payout 33 times since going public a dozen years ago, including upticks in each of its past 24 quarters.
Engine and power generator maker Cummins (NYSE: CMI ) is also juicing up its quarterly checks. Cummins is coming through with a whopping 50% upgrade, as shareowners will now be receiving $0.2625 per share.
Finally, we have National Semiconductor (NYSE: NSM ) on the move. The analog integrated circuits specialist is bumping its payout 25% higher to $0.10 a share every three months.
Companies are starting to return more of their money to their investors, and shareholders aren't likely to be complaining. Logistics provider Ryder (NYSE: R ) and energy giant ONEOK (NYSE: OKE ) both recently fortified their distributions.
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.
Do higher dividends matter to you? Share your thoughts in the comments box below.
RSS Headlines
Fool UK