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.

Let's take a closer look at four of the companies that inched their payouts higher this past week.

Let's start with Lindsay (NYSE: LNN). The maker of agricultural irrigation equipment is sprinkling a little more pocket change on its investors. Lindsay's quarterly dividend is growing by 6%, to $0.085 a share.

Java-heavy Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) is also pouring out a thicker payout. The premium coffee chain's quarterly distributions are climbing 30%, to $0.13 a share. It's a bold move for a company that wasn't even paying a dividend earlier this year.

Starbucks initiated its policy back in March, declaring an inaugural $0.10-a-share disbursement. Investors clearly shouldn't expect 30% upgrades every passing quarter, but it will be interesting to see what the latte lover does in three months.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE: KMP) is also shelling out more of its money. The natural gas transporter's new quarterly distribution is $1.09 a share, just ahead of the $1.05 a share it was sending out a year ago and the $1.07 a share it unloaded a quarter ago. Kinder Morgan Energy has boosted its rate a whopping 37 times since new management took over 13 years ago. Income investors naturally love the trend, and it's likely to continue. Kinder Morgan expressed its confidence in meeting its target of $4.40 a share in distributions this year.

Finally, we have Eaton (NYSE: ETN) on the move. Cleveland may have lost LeBron, but it still has Eaton as a power management specialist with an electrifying perimeter jump shot. Eaton shareholders will now be receiving $0.58 a share, 16% more than they were before.

Some of these moves may not seem like much, but it's clearly better to see companies increasing their yields than slashing them. Airgas (NYSE: ARG) and dispensing specialist AptarGroup (NYSE: ATR) have also bumped up their payouts in recent days. Airgas even boosted its distributions as it was rejecting a buyout bid from Air Products & Chemicals (NYSE: APD). You got that right: Airgas initiated a hike as it told a hungry suitor to take a hike.

Subscribers to the Motley Fool 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.