Even though it was a short week last week, there were still several companies that increased the dividends that they pay to investors. The stocks included telecom, steel, clothing and financial companies.

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

One of the biggest dividend-increasers was Guess? (GES), the apparel company, which increased its quarterly dividend by 25% to 10 cents per share. It just reported that its quarterly earnings increased by 42.5%, beating analysts' expectations. It also increased its outlook for 2009. The stock has a P/E of 17 and a PEG of 0.78, and it pays a yield of 1%.

Guess is owned by the CGM Cap Development Fund, which has an objective of long-term capital appreciation. It has had an average annual return of 23.08% over the last five years. It also owns LAN Airlines (LFL), which yields 6.4%; Core Laboratories (CLB), with a yield of 0.1%; and Copa Holdings (CPA), with a 1% yield.

Another dividend-raiser is Verizon Communications (VZ), which boosted its quarterly dividend by 7% to 46 cents per share. The company just announced that it delivered more than 4 million additional data transmissions in Saint Paul, Minn., during the Republican National Convention. The stock has a P/E of 17, a PEG of 1.61 and a yield of 5.4%.

Verizon is favored by David Dreman, the founder and chairman of Dreman Value Management and long-term Forbes columnist referred to as The Contrarian. The fund's Large-Cap Value Fund has returned an average return of 17% annually, and its Small-Cap Value Fund has returned 16.5% annually on average since the firm's inception. Dreman also likes Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG), with a 3.4% yield; Chubb (CB), with a 2.8% yield; and Occidental Petroleum (OXY), with a 1.7% yield.

Nucor (NUE), the steel producer, just declared its regular quarterly dividend of 32 cents per share plus a special dividend of 20 cents per share. Coverage was just initiated on the company by Banc of America Securities, and in July, the stock received upgrades from UBS and CIBC World Markets. Nucor has a P/E of 8 and a PEG of 0.93, and it pays a yield of 2.6%.

Nucor is one of the holdings of Clarium Capital, a $5 billion global macro hedge fund company managed by Peter Thiel. In 2005, Clarium was honored as the global macro fund of the year by two hedge fund trade magazines. Clarium also owns Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), with a yield of 0.7%; Procter & Gamble (PG), with a 2.3% yield; and Burlington Northern Santa Fe, (BNI) with a 1.6% yield.

To see a complete list of the top dividend-raisers for the week, go to Stockpickr.com.

Posted on Sept. 8, 2008