Vanguard Health Care ETF
$315.52−4.68 (−1.46%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.09%
- Fund size
- $22.0B
- 1Y return
- +27.2%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 1.47%
- Holdings
- 411
- Volume · 30D
- 0.2M sh
- NAV per share
- $320.14
- 52W range
The ETF.net VHT Grade
Score 77 of 100 sits in the A band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.AScore 92Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.AScore 82Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.AScore 80Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.BScore 57Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.BScore 58Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 92Category rank
Our read on VHT
AThe whole US health care sector in one ticket: roughly 400 stocks, an index that reaches well past the megacaps, and a nine-basis-point fee. Trading since 2004, it is one of the category's originals.
The fund seeks to track a benchmark index measuring the investment return of health care stocks.
Why people hold it
- Costs 0.09% a year while the typical fund in its health care peer group charges 0.50%. Same sector, a fraction of the toll.
- Roughly 400 holdings drawn from an investable-market index, so mid and small health care companies count too, not just the sector's giants.workplace.vanguard.com
- Two decades old, now a multi-billion-dollar fund, moderately traded, and it has hugged its benchmark closely. Pays out quarterly.
- On cost, tracking and tradability together, it stands among the strongest builds in a 24-fund health care cohort.
Worth knowing
- FHLC and XLV each shave a basis point off the fee. If the fee line is your only tiebreaker, VHT is not the final word.
- One sector, one news cycle. Drug pricing rules, patent expirations and regulatory decisions can move the entire basket at once.personal.vanguard.com
- Cap-weighted with a 25/50 diversification rule, so no single name can dominate outright, but the largest pharma and insurer positions still steer most of the ride.personal.vanguard.com
VHT Holdings
- Stocks
- 411
- 52%
- LLY
Sectors
- Health Care99.9%
- Financials0.0%
- Industrials0.0%
- Technology0.0%
Geography
- United States97.28%
- Ireland2.24%
- United Kingdom0.38%
- Netherlands0.06%
- Canada0.03%
- Switzerland0.01%
VHT Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
VHT$12,718
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | VHT |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +12.0% |
| 1 month | −2.3% |
| 3 months | +13.5% |
| 1 year | +27.2% |
| 3 years | +12.1% |
| 5 years | +6.1% |
| 10 years | +10.6% |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | VHT |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +12.0% | |
| 2025 | +15.5% | |
| 2024 | +2.7% | |
| 2023 | +2.5% | |
| 2022 | −5.6% | |
| 2021 | +20.6% | |
| 2020 | +18.3% |
VHT in the news
VHT Dividends
- 1.47%
- $4.72
- $0.99 per share
- Quarterly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 23, 2026 | Pays Sep 25, 2026 | $0.97 |
| Jun 24, 2026 | Jun 26, 2026 | $0.99 |
| Mar 24, 2026 | Mar 26, 2026 | $0.99 |
| Dec 17, 2025 | Dec 19, 2025 | $1.67 |
| Sep 24, 2025 | Sep 26, 2025 | $1.08 |
| Jun 26, 2025 | Jun 30, 2025 | $0.96 |
| Mar 25, 2025 | Mar 27, 2025 | $0.94 |
| Dec 18, 2024 | Dec 20, 2024 | $0.92 |
| Sep 27, 2024 | Oct 1, 2024 | $1.17 |
| Jun 28, 2024 | Jul 2, 2024 | $0.97 |
| Mar 22, 2024 | Mar 27, 2024 | $0.82 |
| Dec 19, 2023 | Dec 22, 2023 | $0.89 |
VHT Risk
- 14.4%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- 0.49
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −17.7%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 0.61
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
VHT Cost
0.09%
VHT0.09%
- The middle half of Health Care (Broad) funds
- Median 0.50%
2 of the 25 Health Care (Broad) funds charge less.