Dividend checks continue to get fatter in corporate America, as more companies jack up their distribution rates. Let's take a closer look at some of the companies that inched their payouts higher this past week.
Let's start with ITC Holdings (NYSE: ITC ) . The country's largest independent electricity transmission company is juicing up its quarterly dividend by 5%, to $0.3525 a share. It may not seem like much of a move, but this is the sixth year in a row that ITC has sweetened its yield.
If you want to make ITC look like a slacker, pit it against Cincinnati Financial (Nasdaq: CINF ) . The insurance giant's move to boost its payout last week -- shaving pennies to go from $0.40 a share every three months to $0.4025 -- raises its streak of annual increases to a whopping 50 years.
MGE Energy (Nasdaq: MGEE ) is another dividend aristocrat, coming through with 36 years of meatier disbursements with last week's move. The Madison Gas and Electric parent's new quarterly rate is $0.3826 a share, a modest 2% improvement.
Finally we have Nordson (Nasdaq: NDSN ) on the move. The marker of "precision dispensing" equipment may have disappointed the market with lower-than-expected quarterly results, but at least it's returning more money to shareowners. Nordson's quarterly distributions are climbing 19%, to $0.125 a share.
These stocks join professional services provider Towers Watson (NYSE: TW ) and auto insurance software specialist Solera (NYSE: SLH ) in recently moving their rates higher.
Subscribers to the Motley Fool 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.
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