Not every company is slashing its dividend these days. Some of the market's better performers are easing up on their purse strings, sending more money out 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 last week.

Let's start with PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP). The soft drink and salty snacks giant is increasing its quarterly dividend by 6% to $0.45 a share. The pop star's board has now boosted the company's distributions in each of the past 37 years.

Steris (NYSE:STE) also isn't calling in sick. The infection protection and contamination control specialist is coming through with a huge boost to its quarterly disbursements. Steris is jacking up its rate by 38% to $0.11 a share.

Bunge (NYSE:BG) is another jumper. The agribusiness company is fertilizing its payouts. Its new quarterly rate of $0.21 a share is an 11% upgrade.

Finally, we have Expeditors International (NASDAQ:EXPD) on a dividend-stoking expedition. The global logistics titan with a penchant for bluntness is upgrading its semi-annual payout by 19% to $0.19 a share.

Some of these moves may not seem like much, but consider the less savory moves that took place last week:

  • Mutual fund laggard Legg Mason (NYSE:LM) and office furniture specialist Knoll (NYSE:KNL) shaved their yields by more than 80%.
  • Mall operator Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) is slashing its yield by a third. What can you say? It's tough being the mall landlord these days.

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.