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 companies that inched their payouts higher this past week.

Let's start with Monsanto (NYSE: MON). The agricultural chemicals giant is fertilizing its yield, propping its quarterly dividend 6% higher to $0.28 a share. Monsanto has a three-pronged approach to returning money to its shareowners: through payout hikes, share buybacks, and accretive acquisitions and capital spending.

PetMeds Express (Nasdaq: PETS) is also making its investors purr with pocket change. The online pet pharmacy with toll-free access is boosting its quarterly disbursements by 25% to $0.125 a share. It's a bold move, since analysts see PetMeds' earnings dipping slightly this fiscal year.

Aqua America (NYSE: WTR) isn't about to water down its distributions. The water and wastewater utility's new quarterly rate of $0.155 a share is a 7% improvement. Aqua America knows how to work a spigot, raising its dividend 20 times over the past 19 years.

Finally, we have Dover (NYSE: DOV) keeping its enviable streak alive. The global manufacturing company has increased its payout in each of the past 55 years, after last week's 6% uptick on its quarterly disbursements to $0.275 a share. It's the fourth longest streak among listed companies.

Some of these moves may not seem like much, but it's clearly better to see companies increasing their yields than slashing them. Arm & Hammer parent Church & Dwight (NYSE: CHD) along with oil and gas specialists Murphy Oil (NYSE: MUR) and W&T Offshore (NYSE: WTI) have also bumped up their payouts in recent 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.