Fastenal, which distributes nuts, bolts, clamps, clips and other industrial and construction necessities, boosted its semiannual common dividend to 35 cents a share Monday from 27 cents. Disbursement will take place Feb. 27 for investors on the books Feb. 16. The stock goes ex-dividend Feb. 11. The 40-year-old Minnesota company (FAST) has been paying dividends since 1991. Fastenal has sweetened its payout every year since 2002. It also distributed a 27-cent bonus dividend in December. Its current stock-buyback authorization was boosted by one million shares in July and now covers some 1.4 million. Fastenal sells several hundred thousand products via some 2,300 stores and 14 distribution centers throughout the U.S., Canada and a few other countries. Most of its products are made by others, but no supplier accounts for more than 5% of its goods. CEO Willard D. Oberton says that 2008 "was a good year -- good for the first three quarters -- but then it slowed down hard. We don't know where the bottom is at this point."

One of the largest U.S. pipeline master limited partnerships, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP), which is valued at over $20 billion, Wednesday sweetened its quarterly distribution to $1.05 a unit from $1.02, for an 8.51% yield. The payment, record and ex dates are Feb. 13, Jan. 30 and Jan. 28. This is the seventh consecutive quarterly hike. Dividends have been enriched for 13 years in a row and paid since the company's 1992 formation. Kinder Morgan transports crude oil, natural gas, gasoline and carbon dioxide via some 25,000 miles of pipeline and 170 storage terminals in North America. The Big Board-listed stock, recently quoted around 49, has traded in a range of 60.89-35.59 over the past year. S&P rates it a Strong Buy. The partnership's long-term contracts make it less vulnerable to crude-oil price swings. Its CEO calls the company "essentially a huge toll road."

Kinder Morgan Management (KMR) is a limited partner in Kinder Morgan Energy and controls and manages the latter. Its investors also get the $1.05 distribution, but in stock.

In a similar announcement, El Paso Pipeline Partners (EPB), which trades around 17, raised its quarterly to 32 cents a unit from 30 cents, making for a 7.41% yield. Distributions have climbed every quarter since El Paso's public debut in 2007, and the same dates apply as for the Kinder Morgan payout.

Striving to preserve capital (and who isn't these days), Greek bulk carrier DryShips Thursday omitted its quarterly common dividend of 20 cents a share that it had been paying since initiating disbursements in May 2005. Barron's previously was high on the stock (DRYS), and its shares did indeed soar from 64 to 116 last May before plunging to a 52-week low on Nasdaq of 3 in November. They now change hands around 11. DryShips also is canceling ship orders and selling some vessels. The three moves will save it about $1.54 billion.