This year, those who sold in May and went away … well, they didn’t get paid.

The S&P 500 is up some 4% since May 1, making that old saw seem sillier than ever, and making a few investors richer in the process. And if you’re a card-carrying member of the dividend yield-seeking crowd … well, dividend stocks had a little something for you, too.

Among the laundry list of dividend stocks pumping up their payouts were a host of 35 blue chips, which includes 31 members of the S&P 500, five Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks and five Dependable Dividend Stocks — companies that have upped their regular dividends for at least 25 consecutive years.

While some of these dividend stocks’ newly improved payouts have already been distributed for the quarter, 10 of these companies have yet to go ex-dividend, meaning that if you’ve been considering jumping into them in the first place, you still can get in before their bumped-up payouts get rolling.

As a note, these aren’t recommendations for any of the dividend stocks mentioned — merely a reference point for income investors looking to see which companies continue to press the pedal on increased distributions, and a starting place for research into new income investments.

Now, onto our look at dividend stocks that have upped the ante during the past three months, including the new payout, percentage increase, dividend yield based on the closing price on June 29, and payment and record dates:

American Express (AXP)*

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.26	13%	1.1%	Aug. 8	July 11
* Goes ex-dividend July 9

Anadarko Petroleum (APC)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.29	50%	0.99%	June 25	June 11

Apple (AAPL)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$3.29	8%	2.04%	May 15	May 12

Not a bad quarter, Apple (AAPL). Not a bad quarter at all. Apple stock has continued its rally out of its 2013 valley, running up another 20% in the past three months. Investors and techies alike are dying for details about when the new iPhone 6 will see the light of day. Its Worldwide Developers Conference included exciting news about health and home technology. And investors got a treat as Apple improved its dividend by 8%.

Avago Technologies (AVGO)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.29	7.4%	1.64%	June 30	June 19

Baker Hughes (BHI)*

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.17	13.3%	0.92%	Aug. 15	Aug. 4
* Goes ex-dividend July 31

Oilfield services stock Baker Hughes (BHI) rode Street-beating first-quarter earnings to a 13% run in shares over the past three months — and, funnily enough, also increased its dividend by just about the same amount.

Bank of Montreal (BMO)*

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.78	2.6%	3.9%	Aug. 26	Aug. 8
* Goes ex-dividend July 30

Looking for dividend stocks outside of the usual crowd? You might be surprised to find out that Canadian bank stocks are typically a pretty good source of yield across the board. For its part, Bank of Montreal (BMO) kept its juicy dividend yield propped up with an increase announced earlier this quarter.

Bank of New York Mellon (BK)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.17	13%	1.88%	May 7	April 25

Baxter International (BAX)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.52	6.1%	2.86%	July 1	June 6

Best Buy (BBY)*

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.19	12%	2.45%	Oct. 2	Sept. 11
* Goes ex-dividend Sept. 9

Caterpillar (CAT)*

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.70	16.7%	2.57%	Aug. 20	July 21
* Goes ex-dividend July 17

Celanese (CE)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.25	39%	1.56%	May 16	May 5

There’s not much about Celanese (CE) that’s going to attract much attention — it’s not the biggest name in chemical products, it’s not among the most heavily traded stocks, either. But those in the know (and in CE stock) enjoyed roughly 20% capital gains this past quarter, as well as a nearly 40% boost in its quarterly dividend.

Clorox (CLX)*

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.74	4.2%	3.23%	Aug. 8	July 23
* Goes ex-dividend July 21

C.R. Bard (BCR)*

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.22	4.8%	0.61%	Aug. 1	July 21
* Goes ex-dividend July 17

FedEx (FDX)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.20	33.3%	0.53%	July 3	June 19

FedEx (FDX) had itself a nice quarterly beat announced just a few weeks ago, and it also delivered a 33%-plus dividend hike … though new money should note that FDX’s yield is still pretty piddling.

Helmerich & Payne (HP)*

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.6875	10%	2.38%	Aug. 15	Sept. 2
* Goes ex-dividend Aug. 13

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.16	10.2%	1.89%	July 2	June 11

HollyFrontier (HFC)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.32	6.7%	2.88%	June 27	June 6

Macy’s (M)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.3125	25%	2.13%	July 1	June 13

Medtronic (MDT)*

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.305	9%	1.9%	July 25	July 3
* Goes ex-dividend July 1

MetLife (MET)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.35	27%	2.52%	June 13	May 9

National-Oilwell Varco (NOV)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.46	76.9%	2.23%	June 27	June 13

Energy equipment supplier National-Oilwell Varco (NOV) delivered one of the biggest dividend increases of the quarter, striking a 76.9% gusher of a hike. This came on the back of relatively disappointing earnings, though shares still managed to climb more than 6% this quarter.

Noble Energy (NBL)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.18	28%	0.93%	May 19	May 5

Northrop Grumman (NOC)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.70	15%	2.32%	June 18	June 2

PNC Financial Services (PNC)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.48	9%	2.15%	May 5	April 15

Procter & Gamble (PG)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.6436	7%	3.26%	May 15	April 231

Regions Financial (RF)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.05	66.7%	1.87%	July 1	June 13

Regions Financial (RF) was among several financials to boost payouts this past quarter, though RF’s hike was among the biggest at about 67%. Granted, it wasn’t as exciting as what it did last year, when Regions tripled its dividend.

Safeway (SWY)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.23	15%	2.68%	June 19	June 10

Southern Company (SO)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.525	15%	4.66%	June 6	May 5

SunTrust (STI)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.20	100%	1.99%	June 16	May 30

Target (TGT)*

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.52	20.95%	3.58%	Sept. 10	Aug. 20
* Goes ex-dividend Aug. 18

There’s not much to cheer about at Target (TGT). The company’s shares declined another 3% in the second quarter amid its CEO ouster and struggles in Canada. But, on the upside, Target did deliver a nice 21% boost to its payout, keeping it on our list of Dependable Dividend Stocks.

TJX Cos. (TJX)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.175	21%	1.33%	June 5	May 15

Travelers (TRV)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.55	10%	2.34%	June 30	June 10

Travelers (TRV) didn’t give investors much to complain about back in April. Earnings growth was in double digits, EPS beat the Street, and Travelers’ dividend climbed another 10%. All in all, that has helped shares climb some 12% during the past three months.

UnitedHealth Group (UNH)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.375	34%	1.83%	June 25	June 12

U.S. Bancorp (USB)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.245	6.5%	2.26%	July 15	June 30

Viacom (VIAB)

New Payout	% increase	DIVIDEND Yield as of 6/29	Payment Date	Record date
$0.33	10%	1.53%	July 1	June 13

Kyle Woodley is the Deputy Managing Editor of InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Follow him on Twitter at @KyleWoodley