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Data last updated: Oct 26, 2026
Snapshot (as of Oct 26, 2026): Vanguard Mortgage-Backed Securities Index Fund ETF Shares (VMBS) pays a $0.00 annual dividend, yielding 4.35% at $45.23/share. Source: Yahoo Finance, aggregated by MerryDiv.
Dividend Yield: 4.35%
Annual Dividend: $0.00 per share
Dividend Frequency: monthly
Years of Dividend History: 18
Vanguard Mortgage-Backed Securities Index Fund ETF Shares dividend comes from a fund that tracks the Bloomberg U.S. MBS Float Adjusted Index, holding agency mortgage-backed pass-through securities issued by GNMA, FNMA, and FHLMC. The current yield stands at 4.41%, placing VMBS firmly in high-yield territory for a bond ETF. VMBS pays monthly, which suits income investors who prefer regular cash flow over quarterly distributions. That yield level, backed by government-agency mortgage securities with at least $1 billion outstanding per pool aggregate, makes this fund a fit for income-focused investors prioritizing yield over growth.
Vanguard Mortgage-Backed Securities Index Fund ETF Shares dividend safety depends on the aggregate distributions from the underlying agency mortgage-backed securities the fund holds, not on a corporate payout ratio. Payout ratio is not applicable (fund/ETF). The history table shows year-over-year declines in multiple periods, including a drop from $1.4703 in 2019 to $1.0890 in 2020 and from $1.0890 to $0.5414 in 2021, which reflects how sensitive MBS distributions are to interest rate movements and prepayment dynamics in the underlying pools.
Vanguard Mortgage-Backed Securities Index Fund ETF Shares dividend history shows a CAGR of 0.1% per year from 2010 to 2025. Per-share annual dividends moved from $1.9490 to $1.9791 over that span, a gain of just $0.03 across 15 years. The largest annual increase in the window was 43.5% in 2023, which shows how sharply distributions can swing in either direction rather than compounding steadily. Growth is effectively flat over the full period.
| Period | CAGR | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-Year | +22.8% | $1.07 (2022) | $1.98 (2025) |
| 5-Year | +12.7% | $1.09 (2020) | $1.98 (2025) |
| 10-Year | +5.9% | $1.12 (2015) | $1.98 (2025) |
VMBS fits income-focused investors who want monthly cash flow from government-agency mortgage securities and can accept distribution volatility. The yield is high (above 4%), which is the fund's primary draw. The trade-off is clear: the 15-year CAGR of 0.1% means the per-share payout has barely moved in nominal terms, and the history includes multiple years of meaningful year-over-year declines. An investor in Vanguard Mortgage-Backed Securities Index Fund ETF Shares gets a meaningful current yield backed by GNMA, FNMA, and FHLMC securities, but accepts that the distribution level will fluctuate with interest rates and prepayment activity rather than growing predictably.
| Payment Date | Amount per Share |
|---|---|
| 2026-10-01 | $0.1632 |
| 2026-09-01 | $0.1666 |
| 2026-08-03 | $0.1680 |
| 2026-07-01 | $0.1645 |
| 2026-06-01 | $0.1634 |
| 2026-05-01 | $0.1609 |
| 2026-04-01 | $0.1617 |
| 2026-03-02 | $0.1609 |
| 2026-02-02 | $0.1645 |
| 2025-12-18 | $0.1599 |
| Year | Total Dividends |
|---|---|
| 2026 | $1.4737 |
| 2025 | $1.9791 |
| 2024 | $1.7886 |
| 2023 | $1.5322 |
| 2022 | $1.0679 |
Project income from VMBS with the VMBS dividend calculator or track your full portfolio with the dividend tracker.