BND Dividend: Next Ex-Date, History & Total Return

Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) seeks to track the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index. That index measures public, investment-grade, taxable U.S. bonds with maturities of more than 1 year, including government, corporate and international dollar-denominated bonds as well as mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities. Under normal circumstances, BND invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in the index's bonds and in securities the advisor determines have substantially identical economic characteristics.¹

BND pays dividends monthly, and Vanguard describes it as providing moderate current income with high credit quality. Its shares are an exchange-traded share class of Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund.^1,2

BND samples its index, holding a range of securities that in the aggregate approximates the full index in key risk factors and other characteristics. It also keeps its dollar-weighted average maturity consistent with the index's.¹

The fact sheet describes BND's exposure as the taxable investment-grade U.S. dollar-denominated bond market, excluding inflation-protected and tax-exempt bonds. Vanguard calls the portfolio intermediate-duration. Duration measures how sensitive bond prices are to interest rate moves. BND's performance benchmark is the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index through December 31, 2009, and the float-adjusted version after that.²

Dividend Stacker's record of past payments shows BND making 12 distributions in every completed calendar year from 2008 through 2025, with amounts adjusted for any share splits. The annual total was $3.52 per share in 2008 and declined in every year from 2009 through 2016 except 2014, including a 17.0% drop in 2013. The lowest total in the record came in 2021, at $1.80 per share.³

Annual totals then rose four years in a row through 2025. They climbed 3.8% in 2022, 21.6% in 2023, 16.2% in 2024 and 8.3% in 2025, when BND's 12 payments added up to $2.86 per share.³

BND may be impacted by the general condition of the bond markets. Bond prices and interest rates generally move in opposite directions, so rising rates may lower BND's value, and longer-term bonds are more sensitive than shorter-term ones. When rates fall, the fund's income may decline, and income from shorter-term bonds fluctuates more than that of longer-term ones.¹

BND's index includes mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, whose borrowers can repay early, and some of its bonds may be callable. Calls happen more often when rates are falling and prepayments more often when rates are low, so BND likely would have to reinvest at lower rates and would lose any price appreciation above the amount repaid. When rates rise, some bonds may be paid off substantially more slowly than anticipated, and their value may fall.¹

All debt securities carry some credit risk, the chance an issuer defaults or fails to pay on time. Higher-rated debt generally poses less of that risk than lower-rated debt, and BND's index measures investment-grade bonds.¹

BND generally seeks to track its index regardless of how the index performs, so its performance may be lower than if it were actively managed. Because BND holds a representative sample, its performance may not match the index's, and this tracking error risk may be heightened during increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions.¹

BND's shares trade at market prices that are expected to typically approximate net asset value, though there may be times when the two differ significantly. If its authorized participants, the firms that create and redeem shares, stop doing so and none step in, the shares may trade at a discount and possibly face trading halts or delisting.¹