"Buckle hiked its quarterly payout 25%, to 25 cents a common share from 20 cents. Disbursement will take place Oct. 26 to investors on the books Oct. 15, and the stock, which yields 2.57%, goes ex-dividend Oct. 11. Debt-free Buckle makes its home in Nebraska, where it was founded in 1948. It paid its first dividend in 2003 and has enhanced it every year. Last December, it declared a 50% payout hike, a 3-for-2 stock split and a split-adjusted special dividend of $2 a share."

"CBRL Group which operates Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurants and gift shops, increased its quarterly common payout 28.6%, to 18 cents a share from 14 cents. The Tennessee outfit also announced that it will buy back up to one million of its shares. There is no expiration date on the repurchase plan. The new dividend, which gives the stock a 1.75% yield, will be distributed Nov. 5 to holders of record Oct. 19, and the ex-date is Oct. 17. CBRL has raised payouts annually since 2000 and paid them every year since 1972."

"One of the nation's largest corn refiners, 101-year-old Corn Products sweetened its quarterly common payout for the second time in 2007, to 11 cents a share from nine cents. Dividends have been paid since 1998. Increases in 2004-06 were each a penny a year, but this year's pair of hikes are good for a total of three cents a share. Investors of record Oct. 4 will receive the new dividend Oct. 25. Ex-date: Oct. 2."