4 Stocks That Took a Hike

Hikes aren't usually a good thing. You see gas hikes at the pump or airfare hikes at the airport, and as a consumer, it's hard to embrace the upticks. It's a different thing entirely when we're talking about dividend hikes. They not only put a little more coin into your pocket as a shareholder but also point the way toward companies with improving fundamentals.

Let's take a closer look at four of the companies that inched their payouts higher this past week.

We'll start with CDW (Nasdaq: CDWC). At its annual shareholder meeting, the institutional provider of technology products raised its yearly dividend by 21%, to $0.52 a share. This marks the third straight year in which the company once known as Computer Discount Warehouse has chipped in with a higher payout. The company has also been aggressively buying back shares.

Tiffany (NYSE: TIF) was another sparkling yielder at its shareholder fete. The high-end jeweler is boosting its quarterly distribution from $0.08 to a full dime per share. The retailer's dividend has doubled over the past four years, with payout hikes occurring every year along the way.

SLM (NYSE: SLM) also hiked payouts. The nation's leading student loan provider -- yes, this is Sallie Mae we're talking about, for those on a first-name basis with SLM -- upped its quarterly dividend to $0.25 per share every three months. That represents a 14% improvement from the previous rate, giving buyers a 1.8% yield.

Proving that the best defense is often a good offense, Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) also fired more pennies at its shareholders. The defense contractor's quarterly dividend is going from $0.26 to $0.30 a share. It's the third straight year in which Northrop Grumman has initiated a double-digit percentage hike on its dividend. With high levels of military spending a given, the company should continue to do well even if some investors tend to be gun-shy about companies that rely on the government for business.

As a throwaway piece of trivia, the company named W.G. Bush -- not G.W. Bush -- as its president last week. He will retain his CFO duties, and no, I don't believe he's any relation to the country's presidential family.

Subscribers to our Income Investor newsletter can appreciate the companies sending more and more money to their investors. Analyst Mathew Emmert has often singled out companies that are committed to growing their distributions with market-thumping results.

Want to see what Mathew's liking these days? Go ahead and give his newsletter service a shot with a 30-day trial subscription. Who knows? Maybe the next thing that will get hiked will be your interest.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz pays attention to yield signs. He does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story. CDW is a Motley Fool Stock Advisor pick. The Fool has a disclosure policy . Rick is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.