Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM) (2024)

Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM) is a passively managed U.S. Equity Large Value exchange-traded fund (ETF). Vanguard launched the ETF in 2006.

The investment seeks to track the performance of the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index that measures the investment return of common stocks of companies that are characterized by high dividend yield. The manager employs an indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the index, which consists of common stocks of companies that pay dividends that generally are higher than average. The adviser attempts to replicate the target index by investing all, or substantially all, of the fund's assets in the stocks that make up the index, holding each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in the index.

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 5.03 years: Nick Birkett (2023) and Gerard O’Reilly (2016). Management tenure is more important for actively managed ETFs than passive index ETFs.

The ETF has 1 primary benchmark: FTSE High Dividend Yield TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF has 554 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 24.3% of the ETF’s assets. The ETF meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The ETF is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity ETF group. Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF has 1.8% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 97.9% There is 1.8% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF has 0.3% of the portfolio in cash.

Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF has a trailing dividend yield of 2.80%, which is above the 2.13% category average. The fund normally distributes its dividend income quarterly and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF has a portfolio turnover rate of 6%, which indicates that it holds its assets around / 0.2 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 63% for the Large Value category.

Recently, in the month of August 2024, Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF returned 2.5%, which earned it a grade of C, as the Large Value category had an average return of 2.4%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all ETFs in that category.

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