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.

We can start with GameStop (NYSE: GME).

The video game retailer may have posted soft sales and hosed down its outlook for store-level performance, but GameStop's cash-rich ways aren't getting in the way of larger distributions. GameStop's new quarterly rate is climbing 67% to $0.25 a share. When you tack that on to GameStop's post-report decline you get a yield of 5.4%.

Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) is also giving its disbursements more power. The maker of routers, switches, and other networking gear is boosting its quarterly payout 75% to $0.14 a share. With Cisco's improving fundamentals, healthy free cash flow levels, and billions in the bank, it probably won't be the last time that it hikes its rate.

Blyth (NYSE: BTH) is also seeing the light. The maker of home fragrance and diet management products is doubling its semi-annual distributions. Shareholders will now be receiving $0.10 a share every six months.

Finally we have Pan American Silver (Nasdaq: PAAS) letting its investors strike it rich. The Vancouver-based silver producer with mines through Latin America upped its payout 33% to $0.05 a share. It may not seem like much of a yield, but at least it's an income-producing alternative to owning the actual metal.

Checks and balances
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. A 30-day trial subscription will let you see if it's right for you.

The Dow is another place where yield chasers come for meaty payouts, but you don't want to buy all 30 stocks that make up the index. A new report singles out the three Dow companies that dividend investors need to own. It's a free report, so check it out now.