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 this past quarter.

Let's start with Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (NYSE:RBA). The industrial auctioneer is bidding its own distributions higher. Its quarterly dividend of $0.10 a share is 11% higher than its previous rate. Don't let the "industrial auctioneer" tag lull you into expecting a recessionary stinker. Profits at Ritchie Bros. through the first six months of the year clocked in higher than last year.

Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) is also making its mettle more precious. The Canadian miner is coming through with a 25% increase to its semiannual disbursements. Kinross holders will now be on the receiving end of $0.05 a share. The stock's 0.5% yield isn't impressive, but it's better than the 0% yield for those simply hoarding away gold itself.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) is also gushing. The liquid flow specialist is priming its payout well, boosting its quarterly distributions by 9% to $0.12 a share. Badge Meter has declared fatter dividends in each of the past 17 years.

Finally, we have Connecticut Water Service (NASDAQ:CTWS) extending its own record to 40 consecutive years of rate spurts. Shareholders will now be receiving $0.22275 a share every three months, 2% better than its previous declarations.

Some of these moves may not seem like much, but consider the less savory moves that took place in recent days. Sterling Bancorp (NYSE:STL), SunTrust Banks (NYSE:STI), and United Western Bancorp all declared lower distributions last week.

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 to get a boost will be your interest.