Dividend checks continue to beef up in Corporate America, as more companies jack up their distribution rates.

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 Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior (NYSE: BLX). Shares of the Latin American banking giant -- whose name we mercifully shorten to Bladex -- is coming through on its commitment to improve payouts as its core business strengthens. Shareholders will now be receiving $0.17 a share every three months, 13% ahead of its previous rate.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD) isn't really taking its investors by surprise with its chunkier dividend. The provider of midstream energy services is increasing its quarterly distributions to $0.5825. Some companies reward shareowners with annual upticks, but Enterprise Products Partners has declared slightly higher disbursements for 25 consecutive quarters. It was a good week for the niche, as fellow midstream energy player Genesis Energy (NYSE: GEL) also jacked up its yield.

Goodrich (NYSE: GR) is also flying higher. The aerospace and defense specialist is jacking up its quarterly payouts by 7% to $0.29 a share. Goodrich is inspired by the overdue improvement in commercial airplanes, as well as future growth catalysts in defense and space.

Finally we have A. Schulman (NYSE: SHLM) turning plastics into paper. The supplier of high-performance plastic compounds and resin is cranking out more valuable dividend checks, boosting its quarterly rate by 3% to $0.155 a share.

It's encouraging to see companies improving their yields at a time when fixed income investments are on the floor. These companies join hydrocarbon products producer Calumet (Nasdaq: CLMT) and cemetery essentials maker Matthews International (Nasdaq: MATW) in sending more of their money back to their shareowners in recent days.

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.

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