Dividend checks continue to get fatter 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 FedEx (NYSE: FDX). The speedy delivery giant is rushing a chunkier dividend to its shareholders. FedEx's new quarterly rate of $0.13 a share is an 8% improvement over its previous disbursement.

Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) is also inching higher, bumping its quarterly distributions 5% higher to $0.46 a share. The industrial equipment juggernaut has now come through with 18 consecutive years of payout hikes.

Cheap-chic retailer Target (NYSE: TGT) is juicing up its rate by 20%, and that's on top of a 47% boost last year. Shareholders in the country's second largest discounter will now be receiving $0.30 a share every three months.

Finally, we have Sun Hydraulics (Nasdaq: SNHY) rising. The maker of screw-in hydraulic cartridge valves and manifolds is going to execute a 3-for-2 stock split, but it's keeping its quarterly rate at $0.09 a share. In other words, it's essentially a 50% increase in both shares and income.

These companies join National Fuel Gas (NYSE: NFG) and medical products maker C.R. Bard (NYSE: BCR) in propping up their yields. Ski resort operator Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN) also initiated a quarterly dividend policy.

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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