During the most turbulent week in Wall Street history, it is amazing that there were dozens of companies that raised their dividends during the week. The dividend increasers included a few financial companies and a couple of tech firms. The top 10 dividend raisers, extracted by Stockpickr, all had dividend increases of around 10% or greater.

One of the stocks with the biggest dividend increase is Methode Electronics (MEI), a manufacturer of electronic, control and optical devices, which boosted its quarterly dividend by a brawny 40% to 7 cents per share. In addition, it just approved a stock repurchase plan, which involves the buy back 3 million shares. The stock has a P/E of 9, a PEG of 1.7 and a yield of 2.1%.

Methode shows up in an unusual Stockpickr portfolio called Street Drug Silliness, which includes stocks that all have a ticker symbol that references a common street drug. Methode used to have the symbol METH. Other stocks in the portfolio include Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (POT), with a yield of 0.2%; Precision Castparts (PCP), with a yield of 0.1%; and Coca-Cola Bottling (COKE), with a 2.4% yield.

Another dividend-increaser is Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPDI), a contract research drug discovery and development services company, which bumped up its quarterly dividend by 25% to 12.5 cents per share. The company was just downgraded by Robert W. Baird from outperform to neutral. The stock has a P/E of 32, a PEG of 1.31 and a yield of 0.9%.

The stock is owned by the Buffalo Small Cap Fund, which has a Morningstar rating of four stars and is managed by Kent Gasaway. The fund has had an average annual return of 21.44% over the last five years. The fund also holds Cabot Microelectronics (CCMP), Corinthian Colleges (COCO) and Amylin Pharmaceuticals (AMLN), none of which pays a dividend.

HCC Insurance Holdings (HCC) also raised its quarterly dividend, moving it up by 14% to 12.5 cents per share. Its Houston headquarters were closed last week due to hurricane-related power outages. The company is rated AA (very strong) by both Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings. The stock has a P/E of 9, a PEG of 0.86 and a yield of 1.6%.

HCC is favored by John Rogers' Ariel Fund . Rogers, a Forbes columnist, has beat the S&P 500 by 5.14% per year over the last five years. He also likes H&R Block (HRB), yielding 2.4%; Markel (MKL), with a 0.4%; and Janus Capital Group (JNS), with a 0.1% yield.

For the rest of the top 10 dividend raisers for last week, go to Stockpickr.com.

Posted on Sept. 22, 2008