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

Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond ETF (VCIT) seeks to track the Bloomberg U.S. 5-10 Year Corporate Bond Index, a market-weighted corporate bond index with an intermediate-term dollar-weighted average maturity. The index includes U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade, fixed-rate, taxable debt issued by U.S. and non-U.S. industrial, utility, and financial companies. VCIT pays dividends monthly, and Vanguard's fact sheet says the fund provides current income with high credit quality.^1,2

Every bond in VCIT's index has a maturity between 5 and 10 years. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in the bonds that make up that index. VCIT samples the index instead of holding every bond in it: it holds a range of bonds that, taken together, approximates the full index in key risk factors and other characteristics, and it maintains a dollar-weighted average maturity consistent with the index's.¹

Dividend Stacker's record of past payments starts with an ex-date of 2009-12-24, and its annual totals begin with 2010 at $3.59 per share. The record shows 12 distributions in every year from 2010 through 2025 except 2012, which had 13.³

The annual total rose 14.5% to $3.70 per share in 2012, then fell 11.6% in 2013 and 12.0% in 2014. The lowest total in the record was $2.35 per share in 2022, down 11.8% from 2021.³

Totals then rose three years in a row: up 28.7% in 2023, up 17.6% in 2024, and up 8.8% in 2025 to $3.87 per share, the highest total in the record.³

When interest rates rise, bond prices overall may decline, and the prices of longer-term bonds are more sensitive to rate changes than those of shorter-term bonds. The fact sheet uses duration to measure this sensitivity: if rates rose 1 percentage point, a bond with a duration of 2 years would fall about 2% in price.^1,2

Credit risk is the chance that an issuer defaults or pays late, which could cause a loss to the fund. Doubts about an issuer's ability to pay can also push a bond's price down. VCIT's index includes investment-grade corporate debt, and while all debt securities are subject to credit risk to some extent, higher-rated debt generally poses less credit risk than lower-rated debt.¹

Some bonds VCIT holds may be callable, meaning the issuer can redeem them before maturity. A call would cost the fund any price gain above the call price, and because calls occur more often when rates fall, the fund would likely reinvest at a lower rate. The prospectus also names income risk: when interest rates fall, VCIT's income may decline.¹

Limited trading in some debt securities could make them harder to value or sell, and selling at a poor time or price may reduce returns. VCIT's market price is expected to typically approximate its net asset value, but disruptions to creation and redemption, significant market volatility, or a potential lack of an active trading market may cause the shares to trade at a significant premium or discount.¹

Because VCIT holds a sample of its index, its performance may not match the index's. The prospectus calls this tracking error risk and says it may be heightened in volatile or unusual markets.¹