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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 these past few days.

We can start with Brady (NYSE: BRC).

The provider of identity security solutions is boosting its quarterly rate 12% to $0.19 a share. Investors should be used to this by now. Brady has now come through with 27 consecutive years of increases.

Epiq Systems (Nasdaq: EPIQ) is also not objecting to sending more money to its stakeholders. The provider of tech solutions in the legal professions for electronic discovery, bankruptcy, and class action administration is pumping up its quarterly disbursements to $0.09 a share. That's a healthy 38% pop from its prior rate.

Verizon (NYSE: VZ) also isn't merely phoning in its payout strategy. The telecom giant is ratcheting up its quarterly dividend 3% to $0.515 a share. This is the sixth year in a row that Verizon -- now sporting a juicy 4.7% yield -- has come through with a hike.

Finally, we have Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) ready to crank out quarterly checks to its investors. The PC giant declared its first-ever dividend, committing to sending $0.08 a share to its stakeholders every three months.

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 3 Dow companies that dividend investors need to own. It's a free report, so check it out now.