When you're looking for dividend stocks to add to your portfolio, don't settle for companies that just pay good dividends today -- look for those that are also increasing their payouts. When a company makes a noteworthy boost to its payout, that's a promising sign about its business.

Among the companies that have announced or are planning sizable increases to their dividend payments this year are Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE: TMO), PepsiCo (NASDAQ: PEP), and Texas Roadhouse (NASDAQ: TXRH). Are these just one-off boosts, or could they reflect reasons for long-term investors to buy and hold these stocks?

Healthcare giant Thermo Fisher announced on Feb. 22 that its board authorized a 17% increase to its quarterly dividend, from $0.30 per share to $0.35. That puts the company's dividend yield at 0.26%. And while that's well below the S&P 500 average of 1.7%, Thermo Fisher's minuscule payout ratio of 7% means that there's still plenty of room for management to increase the dividend further.

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Source Fool.com