Investors are looking more and more towards stocks that pay dividends. When a company increases its dividend, it is sending a strong message to shareholders that it believes the company will continue to do well and earnings will continue to increase in the future.

Stockpickr has reviewed the dividend declarations for the last week and compiled a list of the top dividend-raisers for the week.

One of those dividend-increasers is PPG Industries (PPG), a manufacturer of glass, coatings and chemical products, which raised its dividend by 1.9% to 53 cents per share. PPG has paid dividends in three centuries, starting in 1899. In addition, it has increased its annual dividend payout every year for the last 37 years. It just announced that its revenues increased by 37.5% and earnings topped analysts' estimates. The P/E ratio is 11, a PEG of 0.86 and a yield of 4.7%.

PPG is owned by the Icon Materials Fund, which has a Morningstar rating of four stars and is managed by Derek Rollingson. The fund has had an average annual return of 25.26% over the last five years. Icon also owns Monsanto (MON), with a 1.2% yield; Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX), with a 6% yield; and Dow Chemical (DOW), with a 6.9% yield.

Another dividend-raiser is Matthews International (MATW), which boosted its dividend by 8.3% to 6.5 cents per share. This maker of products for the cemetery and funeral home industries just had coverage initiated on the company by Davenport, which gave it a neutral rating. The stock has a P/E ratio of 16 and pays a yield of 0.6%.

Matthews shows up in an interesting Stockpickr portfolio called the Funeral Service/Death Portfolio, which lists companies in the funeral business. Other stocks in the portfolio include Service Corp. International (SCI), with a 2.5% yield, and Stewart Enterprises (STEI), with a 1.8% yield.

For more ideas, check out the Stockpickr portfolio of top dividend-raisers for the week.

Posted on Oct. 20, 2008