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 Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM). The mobile chip giant's new quarterly distributions of $0.25 a share represent a 16% increase over its previous rate of $0.215 a share.

TJX (NYSE: TJX) is also marking up its disbursements. The retailer behind T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and other apparel and home-based concepts is increasing its quarterly payout 21% to $0.115 a share. If that's not enough a show of confidence, TJX came back two days later to boost its bottom-line guidance for its fiscal first quarter after reporting a 10% spike in comparable store sales for the month of March.

International Speedway (Nasdaq: ISCA) is also revving up its yield. The motorsports promoter behind the famous Daytona International Speedway and a dozen other venues is putting the pedal to the metal as its speeds up its annual dividend from $0.18 a share to $0.20 a share.

International Speedway's boost came a day after the company posted declines in revenue and profitability, but it's still earning more than enough to cover the modest annual distributions.

Finally we have Hot Topic (Nasdaq: HOTT). The apparel retailer for emo kids, Goths, and other counter-culture fashion styles is lifting its quarterly payouts by 14% to $0.08 a share.

Checks and balances
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.