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 Brady (NYSE: BRC). The identification solutions provider is increasing its quarterly rate by 3% to $0.185 a share. Investors should be used to this by now. Brady has cranked up its distributions for 26 years in a row.

ProAssurance (NYSE: PRA) didn't even have a dividend policy in place until last Wednesday. The specialty writer of medical professional liability insurance will issue its first quarterly distribution -- sending out $0.25 a share -- this month.

Williams (NYSE: WMB) is also on the move. The integrated natural gas company's new quarterly payout of $0.25 a share represents a 25% hike. Perhaps more importantly, $0.25 a share is twice what Williams was paying just a year ago.

Finally, we have Adams Express (NYSE: ADX) enriching its shareowners. The closed-end fund revealed that it will distribute 6% of its average market price over the course of the year. Its payouts in 2009 and 2010 clocked in at 5.2% and 5.1% of its average market price, respectively.

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: