I love to kick off the new trading week by taking a quick peek at companies that have just hiked their dividends. It's not just about the money. A company that's loosening its purse strings probably has improving fundamentals to back up that generosity.
Readers of our Motley Fool Income Investor newsletter can certainly appreciate that kind of thinking. Let's take a closer look at four of the companies that inched their payouts higher this past week.
We can start with CVS
Next, Robbins & Myers
Marcus Corporation
Marcus owns a few hotels, but its bread and butter is its chain of 42 multiplex cinemas. That makes the move a pretty encouraging sign for the industry as a whole. Film exhibitors have suffered through attendance dips over the past few years, as more consumers wait to catch new releases via the convenience of their home theater systems.
Marcus has held up better than its competition, but a lot of the company's recent good fortune is tied to its lodging operations and real estate divestitures.
Lastly, we have Oxford Industries
Subscribers to the Income Investor newsletter can appreciate companies that send more and more money to their investors. The newsletter singles out companies that are committed to growing their distributions with market-thumping results.
Want to see what is being recommended these days? Go ahead and give the newsletter service a shot with a 30-day trial subscription. Who knows? Maybe the next thing to get hiked 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 in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.