Do you buy dividend-paying stocks for today's yield, or for the potential of greater payouts? Too many investors are too concerned with the present to fully appreciate companies that inch their payouts higher; in the future, those firms will become even more attractive to dividend-hungry investors. Higher payouts are also a good sign of a company 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 Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM). The wireless communications enabler has been a Wall Street favorite, thanks largely to its knack of producing net profit margins of 35% or better in recent quarters. That's why a dividend hike shouldn't leave the company breaking much of a sweat. The quarterly distribution is going from $0.09 a share to $0.12 a share. The new sum will inch Qualcomm's yield to a mere 0.9%, but that may be just fine for growth-stock investors looking for a little extra pocket change.

On the more conservative side of the income-producing spectrum, we have TJX (NYSE:TJX). The parent company behind discount apparel retailers TJ Maxx and Marshalls picked up the pace on its payout. Investors will now receive $0.07 a share every three months. Even though that's just a penny better than the old dividend, it still translates into a beefy 17% increase for the company. It also comes as a rocky retail environment has put the company in a transitional phase.

H.B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) was another hiker. The major player in sealants, coatings, and adhesives has been sticking to market-busting earnings growth. The company has considerably lapped analyst targets lately. That may give Fuller the flexibility to dramatically ratchet up its dividend, but the company has taken a more careful stance. In fact, Fuller is splitting pennies this time around, with its quarterly dividend now growing from $0.1225 to $0.125 per share. It still translates into an impressive streak of 37 consecutive years of dividend hikes.

Then we have Movado Group (NYSE:MOV). The watchmaker's 20% yield hike is making the passage of time more financially rewarding for shareholders. Investors will now be receiving $0.06 a share every three months. The move comes even after rival Fossil (NASDAQ:FOSL) had watered down its 2006 outlook back in February. That's one way to "clock" the competition.

Subscribers to our Income Investor newsletter can appreciate the companies that send 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 likes these days? Go ahead and give his newsletter service a shot with a 30-day trial subscription. Who knows? Maybe the next thing to 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 the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.