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 Macy's (NYSE: M).

Encouraged in part by a healthy 6.2% spike in store-level comps for the month of March, the department-store chain doubled its quarterly dividend to $0.20 a share.

"We have great confidence in the future," the retailer notes in its press release. Returning twice as much money to its shareholders as it was previously doing certainly drives that point home.

Watsco (NYSE: WSO) is also doing the cool thing by heating up its disbursements. The air-conditioning giant is raising its quarterly payout 9% to $0.62 a share. Watsco has now come through with 11 consecutive years of chunkier rates.

Bank of the Ozarks (Nasdaq: OZRK) is giving its investors more pocket change to deposit. The Little Rock-based banker's new quarterly distributions of $0.11 a share represent a 10% boost. If that doesn't seem like much, keep in mind that Bank of the Ozarks has now juiced up its yield in each of the six past quarters.

Yes, quarters.

Finally, we have LTC Properties (NYSE: LTC) jacking up its already healthy rate. The REIT that invests in long-term care and other health-related facilities is inching its monthly -- yes, monthly -- dividend 4% higher. Investors will now be receiving $0.145 a share every month.

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 MyWatchlist.