Bond ETF
Vanguard Mortgage-Backed Securities ETF (VMBS)
Vanguard Mortgage-Backed Securities ETF trades as VMBS on NASDAQ. This page collects what it has actually paid — every recorded payment, the calendar-year totals, the forward and trailing 12-month yields side by side against the last price, and the dates already declared.
Price as of Aug 25, 2026 (7 hours ago) · supplied by fmp. Quotes may be delayed. Verify with your broker before acting on anything here.
The two yields above are different measurements and are not interchangeable. The forward yield annualises the last regular payment; the trailing 12-month yield counts the cash actually paid over the last 365 days. Neither is an interest rate, a bond's yield to maturity or an index effective yield, and none of those may be compared with these as like for like. See how we compute these numbers.
Our stored payment history for VMBS begins in 2009. The run of increases above ends inside that history rather than at its edge, so the figure is measured within what we hold and is not a floor. A streak is counted on the split-adjusted payment, so a share split does not read as a cut.
A yield is just a payment divided by a price, so it moves every day even when the payment does not. The forward number is an estimate of the next twelve months; the trailing number is what was actually paid over the last twelve. Ex-date is the cut-off: own the shares before it and the next payment is yours, buy on or after it and the seller keeps it.
What VMBS is
This ETF is designed to deliver a consistent and reasonable stream of current income for its investors. It primarily allocates its assets to pass-through debt instruments that are secured by U.S. mortgages and guaranteed by federal entities such as Ginnie Mae (GNMA), Fannie Mae (FNMA), and Freddie Mac (FHLMC). The fund exhibits an intermediate level of interest rate sensitivity, with the dollar-weighted average maturity of its holdings typically spanning between three and ten years.
VMBS is a bond etf. What it pays is a distribution, not interest, and that distinction matters. A distribution is whatever the fund passes through for the period — dividends and interest received from the holdings, realised capital gains, option premium where the strategy writes options, and sometimes return of capital. Only the year-end tax form breaks the payment into its parts.
Return of capital is your own money coming back. It is not taxed on receipt, but it reduces your cost basis, so the tax arrives later as a larger capital gain. A fund can therefore publish a steady-looking distribution rate while the net asset value drifts down underneath it. The distribution is set by the fund and can be changed at any time; it is never a coupon.
Figures on this page are computed by Income Investing from the payment history and last price stored in our own database; the payment records come from fmp and the price from fmp, last recomputed Aug 25, 2026. They describe what has been paid, not what will be paid. Yield, payout ratio, our data sources and our methodology are explained elsewhere on the site.
Payment history
Each row is one payment as recorded by our data provider, newest first. The final column compares it with the nearest payment about a year earlier.
The table lists the 24 most recent recorded distributions for VMBS, newest first, with ex-dates running from Sep 03, 2024 to Aug 03, 2026. The latest is $0.1680 per share in USD, ex-date Aug 03, 2026, pay date Aug 05, 2026. Measured against the nearest payment about a year earlier, 22 are higher, 2 lower and 0 unchanged; the remaining 0 have no comparable payment in the record. None is flagged as a special or one-off payment. Payment records supplied by fmp.
How to read this table: one row is one payment, newest at the top, and the amount is what a single share received on that one date. It is not an annual figure — the yearly ones are in the tiles above and in the totals further down. A row marked Special is a one-off the issuer chose to make rather than part of the regular schedule, which is why it is left out of the year-on-year comparison and out of those yearly totals. Whether the amount repeats for several rows or moves every time is a fact about the structure rather than a sign of health: a company usually resets its dividend once a year, while a fund's distribution can change with every payment.
| Ex-dateOwn it before this day and this payment is yours. | Pay date | Amount per shareWhat one share received on that date, before tax. | Cadence tagged by provider | Type | vs. a year earlier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 03, 2026 | Aug 05, 2026 | $0.1680 | Monthly | Regular | +2.75% |
| Jul 01, 2026 | Jul 06, 2026 | $0.1645 | Monthly | Regular | +1.11% |
| Jun 01, 2026 | Jun 03, 2026 | $0.1634 | Monthly | Regular | +1.68% |
| May 01, 2026 | May 05, 2026 | $0.1609 | Monthly | Regular | -18.61% |
| Apr 01, 2026 | Apr 06, 2026 | $0.1617 | Monthly | Regular | -1.40% |
| Mar 02, 2026 | Mar 04, 2026 | $0.1609 | Monthly | Regular | +1.32% |
| Feb 02, 2026 | Feb 04, 2026 | $0.1645 | Monthly | Regular | +2.94% |
| Dec 18, 2025 | Dec 22, 2025 | $0.1599 | Monthly | Regular | +5.06% |
| Dec 01, 2025 | Dec 03, 2025 | $0.1615 | Monthly | Regular | +7.38% |
| Nov 03, 2025 | Nov 05, 2025 | $0.1720 | Monthly | Regular | +12.49% |
| Oct 01, 2025 | Oct 03, 2025 | $0.1533 | Monthly | Regular | +5.65% |
| Sep 02, 2025 | Sep 04, 2025 | $0.1652 | Monthly | Regular | +7.13% |
| Aug 01, 2025 | Aug 05, 2025 | $0.1635 | Monthly | Regular | +8.57% |
| Jul 01, 2025 | Jul 03, 2025 | $0.1627 | Monthly | Regular | +8.03% |
| Jun 02, 2025 | Jun 04, 2025 | $0.1607 | Monthly | Regular | +7.28% |
| May 01, 2025 | May 05, 2025 | $0.1977 | Monthly | Regular | +33.67% |
| Apr 01, 2025 | Apr 03, 2025 | $0.1640 | Monthly | Regular | +12.18% |
| Mar 03, 2025 | Mar 05, 2025 | $0.1588 | Monthly | Regular | +9.29% |
| Feb 03, 2025 | Feb 05, 2025 | $0.1598 | Monthly | Regular | +11.44% |
| Dec 24, 2024 | Dec 27, 2024 | $0.1522 | Untagged | Regular | +7.26% |
| Dec 02, 2024 | Dec 04, 2024 | $0.1504 | Monthly | Regular | +7.05% |
| Nov 01, 2024 | Nov 05, 2024 | $0.1529 | Monthly | Regular | +14.36% |
| Oct 01, 2024 | Oct 03, 2024 | $0.1451 | Monthly | Regular | +6.69% |
| Sep 03, 2024 | Sep 05, 2024 | $0.1542 | Monthly | Regular | +18.62% |
The cadence column is the tag our provider attached to that individual payment (fmp), not the security's established schedule. The two can disagree, which is why the cadence shown in the tiles above is only accepted after three consecutive payments were tagged the same way.
A blank comparison means there was no comparable payment within sixty days of the same point a year earlier — a new payer, a changed cadence, or a gap in the record. Special and one-off payments are labelled and are excluded from the comparison.
Distributions by calendar year
Calendar-year totals, bucketed by ex-dividend date: every regular distribution whose ex-dividend date fell in that year, for the last ten complete years on record. These are amounts actually paid, never a forward estimate, and they are not the issuer's own annual distribution figure.
The chart covers 10 complete calendar years for VMBS, 2016 to 2025, per share, in USD. Each bar totals the regular distributions with an ex-dividend date in that calendar year. The year is assigned by ex-dividend date, which is not necessarily the issuer's own distribution year. Our stored payment history for VMBS begins in 2009. The total went from $1.10 in 2016 to $1.98 in 2025 — 80% higher. Within that span 7 years were higher than the year before and 3 lower. The three most recent years shown are 2023 $1.53, 2024 $1.79 and 2025 $1.98. The current year is still in progress and is left out, and special or one-off payments are excluded. This is a record of what was paid, not a projection. Every year shown holds the 12 distributions a monthly cadence implies, so no year on this chart is short or long because a payment shifted across a year end.
Each bar, and each row underneath it, is one calendar year of regular payments added together for a single share. Read left to right and you are reading whether the payment has grown, held or been cut — a record of what was paid, never a forecast of what will be. One thing to watch for: a year here is decided by the date the payment went ex, so when that date slips across a year end one year holds an extra payment and its neighbour is one short while the payment itself never moved. Any year where that has happened is drawn as a dashed bar and marked with an asterisk, and it is the usual reason these totals differ from the annual figure the issuer itself publishes.
| Year | Paid per share that yearEvery regular payment dated in that year, added up, for one share. | Payments in the yearA count that differs from the usual one means a payment moved across a year end. | Change on the year before |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | $1.10 | 12 | -1.79% |
| 2017 | $1.13 | 12 | +3.09% |
| 2018 | $1.40 | 12 | +23.62% |
| 2019 | $1.47 | 12 | +4.95% |
| 2020 | $1.09 | 12 | -25.98% |
| 2021 | $0.54 | 12 | -50.14% |
| 2022 | $1.07 | 12 | +96.57% |
| 2023 | $1.53 | 12 | +43.55% |
| 2024 | $1.79 | 12 | +16.73% |
| 2025 | $1.98 | 12 | +10.65% |
Similar securities
The eight closest bond etf entries by trailing 12-month yield, in the same sector. A research screen, not a recommendation.
These are not the best-paying securities of this kind, and no ranking is meant by the order. They are the ones whose trailing 12-month yield sits nearest to this one, in the same structure and usually the same sector, so that this security can be seen in company rather than on its own. Every figure here is backward-looking cash that has already been paid. A row that sits well away from the rest is a question to take to that security's own page, not an answer.
| Ticker | Name | Price | Trailing 12m yieldCash paid out over the last year, over today's price. | Paid over 12 months | Pays |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SCHZ | Schwab U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | $22.90 | 4.18% | $0.96 | Monthly |
| GNMA | iShares GNMA Bond ETF | $43.86 | 4.27% | $1.87 | Monthly |
| VTIP | Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities ETF | $49.83 | 4.14% | $2.06 | Quarterly |
| SPTL | State Street SPDR Portfolio Long Term Treasury ETF | $25.47 | 4.29% | $1.09 | Monthly |
| BIV | Vanguard Intermediate-Term Bond ETF | $75.90 | 4.29% | $3.26 | Monthly |
| SPMB | State Street SPDR Portfolio Mortgage Backed Bond ETF | $22.12 | 4.13% | $0.91 | Monthly |
| MBB | iShares MBS ETF | $93.77 | 4.31% | $4.04 | Monthly |
| SPAB | State Street SPDR Portfolio Aggregate Bond ETF | $25.26 | 4.10% | $1.04 | Monthly |
Every row in this table is on the same basis — cash actually paid per share over the last 365 days, divided by that security's last price — so the column can be read down. Forward estimates are deliberately not used here, because they exist for some securities and not others and a mixed column would invite a comparison that does not hold. A dash means no payment was recorded in the last 365 days, or no price is on file. Open a security to see both of its yields.
Where these are traded
The Treasury's direct issuance channel for notes, bonds and TIPS, including non-competitive bids at auction without a broker.
Holdings there cannot be sold before maturity without transferring them to a broker first
Visit TreasuryDirect ↗The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's official disclosure site, carrying offering documents, reported trade prices and continuing disclosures for municipal bonds.
Free official source; no account needed
Visit MSRB EMMA ↗The broker-dealer regulator that runs the TRACE trade-reporting system for corporate, agency and municipal bond transactions and publishes market data from it.
Also hosts BrokerCheck for looking up a firm or registered rep
Visit FINRA ↗Runs a retail bond desk with new-issue and secondary inventory across Treasuries, municipals, corporates, agencies and brokered CDs.
Individual bond pricing is quoted net of a dealer markup rather than as a separate commission
Visit Fidelity Investments ↗Listed because they offer access to this kind of security, not as an endorsement of it.