VYM’s $94.6 Billion Portfolio Beats Treasury Yields with Dividend Kings Leading the Way

1 hour ago 1

John Seetoo

Fri, July 17, 2026 astatine 11:57 AM CDT 5 min read

Quick Read

VYM's $94.6 cardinal portfolio delivered a 21.6% full instrumentality implicit the past twelvemonth portion maintaining a well-covered dividend watercourse backed by blue-chip escaped currency flow.
AT&T has held its dividend level for 4 consecutive years portion carrying nett debt/EBITDA of 2.71x, making dividend maturation improbable contempt the payout remaining safe.
AbbVie's Skyrizi and Rinvoq present make $6.6 cardinal per quarter, providing astir 2x dividend sum contempt Humira's 38% gross decline.
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Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (NYSEARCA:VYM) has go 1 of the largest income vehicles successful the market, with $94.6 cardinal successful nett assets per its astir caller NPORT filing. VYM tracks the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index, screening large-cap U.S. stocks with above-average forecast yields and weighting them by marketplace cap. With the 10-year Treasury adjacent 4.62%, the question is whether VYM's organisation watercourse inactive earns its equity hazard premium. The abbreviated answer: mostly yes, with 2 holdings worthy watching.

A idiosyncratic successful a bluish overgarment and reddish necktie touches a cardinal hexagonal icon labeled 'DIVIDENDS' connected a transparent holographic screen. Surrounding achromatic hexagonal icons show symbols for percent and dollar distribution, a briefcase with a calculator, and stacks of coins with upward arrows, each acceptable against a blurred inheritance of a light-colored ceramic wall.

How VYM Generates Income

VYM owns astir 550 U.S. stocks and passes done their currency dividends, minus a bladed disbursal ratio. There are nary options, leverage, oregon enslaved exposure, truthful the organisation is lone arsenic harmless arsenic the underlying payouts. The scale rebalances annually, pruning dividend-cutters and adding higher-yielders, giving the money self-cleaning quality but nary immunity to a atrocious quarter.

Concentration is meaningful astatine the top. Broadcom unsocial sits astatine astir 8% of assets, followed by JPMorgan adjacent 3%, Exxon adjacent 3%, and Johnson & Johnson adjacent 2%. The adjacent tier includes Caterpillar, AbbVie, Bank of America, Home Depot, Chevron, and Cisco. That apical 10 drives the bulk of VYM's currency yield.

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The Blue-Chip Core Is Doing Its Job

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) raised its quarterly payout from $1.30 to $1.34 successful Q2 2026, extending its Dividend King streak. With trailing EPS of $8.63 against an annualized dividend adjacent $5.36, sum is comfortable, and absorption raised full-year adjusted EPS guidance contempt biosimilar erosion successful Stelara. This dividend would past a recession.

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