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 Chemed (NYSE: CHE). Unless someone can draw a connection between running hospice-care facilities and watching over plumbing and drain services giant Roto-Rooter, Chemed will be one of the most eclectic conglomerates you will come across. The odd combo works, though. Chemed's jacking up its quarterly distributions by 14% to $0.16 a share.

News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWSA) is fortifying its yield to reassure investors during trying times. Rupert Murdoch's media empire is still reeling from the phone-hacking scandal that has already shuttered one of its biggest weekly newspapers. Now it's boosting its semi-annual dividend by 27%, with shareholders receiving $0.095 a share every six months.

Badger Meter (NYSE: BMI) is also returning more money to its believers. The master of liquid flow measurement and control technologies is increasing its quarterly rate by 14% to $0.16 a share. The market should be used to this by now. Badger Meter has now jacked up its yield for 19 consecutive years.

Finally, we have Thor Industries (NYSE: THO) on the move. Making gas-guzzling RVs, commercial buses, and ambulances may seem like the wrong place to be during an iffy economy with pesky gasoline prices, but Thor is dramatically improving its disbursements. Thor's new quarterly dividend is climbing 50% to $0.15 a share.

These stocks join energy master limited partnership Tortoise Energy Infrastructure (NYSE: TYG), Atlanta-based banker SunTrust (NYSE: STI), and gold miner Kinross Gold (NYSE: KGC) in recently moving their rates higher.

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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