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 Xerox (XRX). The company whose name is synonymous with copies has crafted an empire that drums up $23 billion in annual revenue through business process and document management. Xerox's new quarterly dividend of $0.0575 a share may not seem like much, but it's a 35% improvement. Xerox's yield now gets pushed up to a healthy 2.8%.

No, investors. You can't Xerox those dividend checks and cash them again.

Texas Instruments (TXN 0.25%) is also getting more generous with its money. The semiconductors giant is boosting its quarterly rate 33% to $0.28 a share. The move isn't a surprise. Texas Instruments has now come through with 10 straight years of hikes.

It's not the only way that the tech bellwether is returning money to its stakeholders. Texas Instruments has authorized an additional $5 billion in share repurchases on top of an earlier plan that still has $3.4 billion of buybacks to go.

They do like things big in Texas.

Gentex (GNTX -1.45%) is turning dimming mirrors into brighter disbursements. The maker of automatic-dimming rearview mirrors and other enhancements for the automotive and aviation markets is hitting the accelerator on its distributions. Gentex will now be sending out $0.14 a share to its investors every three months, and that's an 8% improvement.

Finally, we have GameStop (GME 2.56%) playing the hiking game. The video game retailer's model may be threatened by slumping industry sales and the shift from physical games on disc to digital delivery, but it's going to make it more rewarding for investors to be patient. GameStop's power-boosting its quarterly payouts 10% to $0.275 a share. The move pushes the stock's yield to a surprisingly robust 4.4%.

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.