In spite of the fact that it was a short trading week of approximately three and a half days, due to the Christmas holiday, there were still about a half a dozen stocks that declared dividend increases last week.

The dividend increasers included companies from various industries including healthcare, investment, power generation and real estate. Stockpickr has reviewed the recent dividend declarations and compiled a portfolio of the top dividend increasers for the week.

One of the top increasers is The Ensign Group (ENSG), a player in the fast growing nursing care and rehabilitative care industry. Ensign has operations in California, Arizona, Idaho, Texas, Utah and Washington. The company increased their dividend by 12.5% from 4 cents a share to 4.5 cents a share, providing a yield of 1.2%. According to a recent post by Rev Shark on RealMoney, Ensign was one of the very few stocks making a new 12-month high back in November.

It is interesting to note that this bit of good news about the dividend increase came about a week after the FBI raided the headquarters of the company, which company executives believe is an investigation into alleged Medicare fraud. The stock has a price-to-earnings (or P/E) ratio of 13, slightly better than the long-term care facilities industry average of 14.5. It has a very favorable price /earnings-to-growth (or PEG) ratio of 0.78, but not as good as its competitors, Kindred Healthcare (KND), with a PEG of 0.65 and Skilled Healthcare Group (SKH) with a PEG of 0.66.

Ensign is owned by the Heartland Value Fund, a long term capital appreciation fund, which is rated three stars by Morningstar and managed by William J. Nasgovitz. The fund has been up in 18 out of the last 23 years. Heartland also owns Chemtura Corporation (CEM), with a forward P/E of 5 and a PEG of 0.45, InterDigital (IDCC), with a P/E of 59 and a PEG of 2.06, and Newpark Resources (NR), with a P/E of 8 and a PEG of 0.78.

Another recent dividend-raiser is MAXIMUS, Inc. (MMS), which increased its dividend by 20% from 10 cents per share to 12 cents per share, giving a yield of 1.4%. The stock goes ex-dividend on Feb. 11. The company, which was upgraded by TheStreet.com Ratings to a Buy, provides management and consulting services to Federal, state and local government agencies. They recently considered selling some or all of its assets, but put that idea on the back burner and decided instead to implement a $150 million share-repurchase program, which could add 25 cents to their earnings. The stock has a very high P/E of 100 and a PEG of 2.32.

MAXIMUS is owned by Royce & Associates, a money manager specializing in small- and micro-cap companies. They have over $25 billion under management. Royce also owns Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc. (LECO), with a P/E of 8 and a PEG of 0.79, Unit Corp. (UNT) with a P/E of 4 and a PEG of 0.34 and Knight Capital Group (NITE), with a P/E of 10 and a PEG of 0.71.

Track the current portfolio of the top dividend increasers right here on Stockpickr.