By Stockpickr Staff
Posted on April 14, 2009

Last week, Standard & Poor's came out with its dividend report, announcing that a record number of stocks reduced their dividends during the first quarter. At the same time, the number of companies to raise their dividends hit a record low. This is the first time this disparity has taken place since S&P started keeping track since 1955. F

But there are still companies out there willing to up their stockholder payouts. Stockpickr was able to track down several and has compiled its weekly portfolio of recent dividend-increasers.

One of the stocks that increased its dividend is apparel retailer TJX (TJX), which announced a regular quarterly dividend of 12 cents per share, an increase of 9%. This gives the stock a yield of 1.7%. The company, which owns T.J. Maxx, Marshall's and A.J. Wright, was among the retail companies that just reported better-than-expected March same-store sales. It has more than $450 million in cash vs. $779 in total debt. Dividend payouts of $198 million are extremely well-covered by operating cash flow of $1.2 billion.

TJX is owned by Pzena Investment Management, a classic value investment management company with $8.5 billion under management that looks for deeply undervalued stocks. Some of the other stocks that Pzena owns include AmerisourceBergen (ABC), which yields 1.2%; Allstate (ALL), yielding 3.5%; and Sempra Energy (SRE), which yields 3.4%.

Another dividend raiser is Watsco (WSO), a distributor of air conditioning, heating and refrigeration equipment, which boosted its quarterly dividend by 7% to 48 cents per share, giving the stock a yield of 4.7%. This is the sixth year in a row that the company has increased its dividend. The company has $113.5 million in operating cash flow coming in, easily covering the $54.7 million in dividend payouts. Total debt is minimal at $21 million, with $41.4 million in cash. David Peltier, manager of the Dividend Stock Advisor portfolio, sees some risk in Watsco.

Watsco is one of the stocks owned by Basswood Partners. Basswood is a New York-based value-oriented long/short equity and activist hedge fund. Other stocks that it owns include Wells Fargo (WFC), yielding 6.9%; Advance Auto Parts (AAP), which yields 0.6%; and Sysco (SYY), which pays a yield of 4.2%.

For more ideas, check out the top dividend-increasers portfolio at Stockpickr.com.