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 Westlake Chemical (NYSE: WLK ) . The maker of petrochemicals, polymers, and building products cooked up a 16% boost to its quarterly dividend. Investors will now be receiving $0.0737 a share every three months. It's not the only way that Westlake Chemical is returning money to its shareholders. The Houston-based company is also initiating a $100 million share buyback plan.
Altria (NYSE: MO ) is also puffing out chunkier distributions. The tobacco giant is increasing its quarterly disbursements by 8% to $0.41 a share. Yield chasers should be used to this by now, since Altria has jacked up its rate 45 times over the past 42 years.
MTS Systems (Nasdaq: MTSC ) is also on the move. The supplier of test systems and industrial position sensors is bumping its quarterly payouts by 25% to $0.25 a share.
"This dividend increase underscores our confidence in the company's long-term outlook and the strength of our cash flow and capital position," board chairman David Anderson explains in MTS' announcement.
There's nothing wildly revealing in the quote, but it's more validation behind the nature of these moves. Companies don't dig deeper into their own pockets unless they're growing more comfortable about their financial futures.
Finally, we have G&K Services (Nasdaq: GKSR ) dressing up its dividend. The workforce uniform provider is hiking its quarterly distributions 37% to $0.13 a share. G&K has now come through with six consecutive years of increases.
These stocks join Cincinnati banker First Financial Bancorp (Nasdaq: FFBC ) and rural retailer Stage Stores (NYSE: SSI ) 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.
If you want to track these stocks to see if and when they hike their payout again:
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