Dividend checks continue to get fatter in Corporate America, as more companies jack up their distribution rates.

Readers of the Income Investor newsletter can certainly appreciate that kind of thinking. Let's take a closer look at some of the companies that inched their payouts higher this past week.

Let's start with TAL International (NYSE: TAL).

The intermodal freight containers and chassis specialist is bumping its quarterly dividend 6% higher, to $0.55 a share. TAL's stock jumped on the news, as the meatier rate was accompanied by a better-than-expected quarterly report.

Kinross Gold (NYSE: KGC) also struck it rich with income seekers. Some argue that gold isn't an appealing asset category because it doesn't return money to shareholders, but it's a different story with gold miners. Canadian miner Kinross is making its quarterly payouts more precious, increasing them 33%, to $0.08 a share.

From gold to a golden anniversary, Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) hit an important milestone in popping its quarterly distributions 9% higher, to $0.51 a share.  The soft-drink king has come through with 50 consecutive years of increasing dividends.

Finally we have Abbot Labs (NYSE: ABT) joining Coca-Cola in shelling out $0.51 a share to its investors every three months. The healthcare giant's old quarterly rate was $0.48 a share. Abbot Labs has now come through with payout hikes 40 years in a row.

Checks and balances
Subscribers to the Income Investor newsletter appreciate the companies sending more and more money to their investors. The newsletter singles out those that are committed to growing their distributions, with market-thumping results.

If you want to track these stocks to see if and when they hike their payouts again, consider adding them to MyWatchlist.

Want to see what's 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!