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 Boeing (NYSE: BA).

The aerospace giant's quarterly disbursements are ascending 5% to $0.44 a share. It may not seem like much of an increase, but it's the first time Boeing has jacked up its yield since 2008.

Nucor (NYSE: NUE) is also putting the pedal to the metal. The maker of steel products is boosting its quarterly rate fractionally to $0.365 a share. Steel may seem as cyclical an industry as they come, but Nucor has managed to juice up its distributions for 39 years in a row.

Pfizer's (NYSE: PFE) yield is also on the move. The drugmaker is improving its quarterly payouts by 10% to $0.22 a share. Pfizer is also seeking to return money to shareholders through an additional $10 billion in stock buybacks.

Finally, AT&T (NYSE: T) is connecting with its investors. Ma Bell's new quarterly rate of $0.44 a share is a 2% upgrade. Despite waning landline accounts and the occasionally costly support of its growing wireless business, AT&T has come through with 29 consecutive years of hikes.

These companies join potash producer Agrium (NYSE: AGU) and credit card giant Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) 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.