We'll start with Steelcase (NYSE:SCS). The office furniture specialist inched its quarterly dividend higher by 11%, to $0.10 a share. With its turnaround seemingly complete, Steelcase is now enjoying the benefits of an improving economy and its impact on corporate spending. Conditions got pretty scary a few years ago, especially for trendier rivals such as Herman Miller (NASDAQ:MLHR) and its pricey Aeron chairs. The climate is kinder these days, which may explain why that office furniture feels so relaxing at the moment.
Speaking of furnishings, Hooker Furniture (NASDAQ:HOFT) also broke out the loveseat when it comes to growing its distributions. The company's quarterly payout is growing from $0.07 a share to $0.08 a share. Fools may be familiar with the company, since Tom Gardner recommended the shares three summers ago to Motley Fool Hidden Gems newsletter subscribers. It wasn't the dividend that attracted Tom to the company, but its healthy balance sheet and strong cash flows. It didn't hurt that Hooker's customer base included retailers like Neiman Marcus and Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE:BRK-A) Nebraska Furniture Mart. The stock's been a wild one, more than doubling at one point before shedding some of those gains like wicker furniture in a termite colony. Since Tom's recommendation, the shares have ultimately risen 39%.
Raytheon (NYSE:RTN) was another hiker. The aerospace giant and defense contractor upped its quarterly dividend by 9% to $0.24 a share. The company also announced a more ambitious share-buyback program that would repurchase as much as an additional $750 million of the company's stock. Raytheon's good for it. The company generated sales of $21.9 billion last year alone.
Then we have Todd Shipyards (NYSE:TOD). The company's quarterly distribution is sailing 50% higher, to $0.15 per share. Todd repairs and maintains commercial and military seafaring vessels in the Pacific Northwest. The quarterly dividend isn't the only thing rising with the water, though. The company also announced a special $4-a-share one-time dividend. Naturally, the stock will drop by that same amount when it goes ex-dividends -- dividends are zero-sum games on paper -- but that's just one more reason to pay attention to public companies docked to generous payout policies.
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.The Fool has a disclosure policy. Rick is also part of theRule Breakersnewsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.
