If you've missed my weekly column -- highlighting four companies that hiked their dividends the week before -- you're not alone. I've missed it, too. Unfortunately, it's been hard to find more than a token company or two boosting its yield in any given week these days.

However, it's been a month since my last entry, and I do have more than enough companies to discuss that are exuding confidence by sending a little money to their shareholders.

Readers of the 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 over the past month.

Let's start with Watsco (NYSE:WSO) (AMEX:WSO-B). The distributor of air-conditioning, heating, and refrigeration equipment is increasing its quarterly dividend by 7% to $0.48 a share.

Payouts at natural gas utility Energy West (NASDAQ:EWST) are heading north. The company's monthly -- yes, monthly -- distributions are growing by 13% to $0.045 a share. The move gives the utility a juicy 6.8% yield.

Bowl America (NYSE:BWL-A) is also rolling with the fatter disbursements. The bowling alley operator's new quarterly rate of $0.155 a share is consistent with the company's yield-pumping history. It has now increased its dividend 38 times in a row.

Finally, we have Pepsi Bottling Group (NYSE:PBG) adding some fizz to shareholders' pockets. The largest bottler of PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) soft drinks is upgrading its quarterly dividend from $0.17 a share to $0.18 a share. The bottler has now increased its yield in each of the past six years.

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.

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 that will get hiked will be your interest.