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 Sysco (NYSE: SYY).

The food-service leader is serving up a heartier dividend, boosting its quarterly distributions by 4% to $0.27 a share. Shareholders should be used to this by now. Sysco has bumped up its yield 43 times since going public 41 years ago.

Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) rolled out the first electric room thermostat in 1885, and it continues to heat up its disbursements. Johnson Controls increased its quarterly rate by 13% to $0.18 a share. Johnson Controls has been paying uninterrupted dividends since 1887.

Nike (NYSE: NKE) is also applying its "Just Do It" mantra to its payouts. The athletic footwear and apparel giant is sprinting with its quarterly distributions, pumping them up 16% to $0.36 a share. Nike has managed to double its dividend over the past five years.

Finally, we have MDU Resources Group (NYSE: MDU) keeping an impressive streak alive. The provider of natural resource products and services is juicing up its rate by 3%. Investors will now be receiving $0.1675 a share every three months. The move may not seem like much, but MDU has come through with dividend hikes for 21 consecutive years now.

These companies join oil and gas drilling gear maker National Oilwell Varco (NYSE: NOV), insurance specialist Montpelier Re (NYSE: MRH), and home improvement retailer Home Depot (NYSE: HD) in recently jacking up their yields.

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 payouts again, consider adding them to My Watchlist.