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 Costco (Nasdaq: COST). The chain of 602 warehouse clubs knows how to save its shoppers money, but it also doesn't have a problem returning more of its profits to shareholders. Costco's new quarterly dividend of $0.275 a share is a nearly 15% improvement.

Prospect Capital (Nasdaq: PSEC) is also inching its distributions higher. The closed-end investment company that lends to and invests in private and micro-cap public businesses declared its next four monthly payouts, and each one is slightly higher than the one before. Sure, Prospect Capital's increases are fractional penny slivers, but baby steps in the right direction -- especially when paid out monthly -- add up over time.

CSX (NYSE: CSX) is also choo-choo-ing its way to higher disbursements. The railroad giant's quarterly rate is getting a 17% boost to $0.14 a share. It may not seem like much, but check out CSX's tracks over a longer stretch of time: The company is paying out 250% more than it was five years ago.

Finally we have FactSet Research Systems (NYSE: FDS) turning due diligence into do diligence. The investing research specialist is increasing its rate 15%. Shareholders will now be receiving $0.31 a share every three months. The company is also expanding its share repurchase program.

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.