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.

We can start with TICC Capital Group (Nasdaq: TICC).

The business development company that provides capital to small- and mid-sized companies is boosting its quarterly distributions by 7% to $0.29 a share. The shares trade at a premium to its net asset value of $9.47 (as of the end of June), but a beefy yield of 11.7% works wonders in attracting income investors.

Seagate Technology (NYSE: STX) is also spinning its way to more bountiful disbursements. The hard drive maker's new rate of $0.32 a share is a 28% improvement. Investors were more displeased with Seagate's quarterly financials than pleased by the hike, but at least long-term investors will reap bigger rewards for riding out the volatility.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) is also on the right track. The rail transporter's quarterly payouts are rising 6% to $0.50 a share. Norfolk Southern is also returning more money to shareholder by beefing up a share buyback plan that has already snapped up 122 million shares for $7.1 billion over the past six years.

Finally we have Resources Connection (Nasdaq: RECN) connecting with yield chasers. The business services firm is growing its quarterly dividend 20% to $0.06 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. A 30-day trial subscription will let you see if it's right for you.

The Dow is another place where yield chasers come for meaty payouts, but you don't want to buy all 30 stocks that make up the index. A new report singles out the three Dow companies that dividend investors need to own. It's a free report, so check it out now.