Designed to provide broad exposure to the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market, the Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth ETF (VOT) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 08/17/2006.
The fund is sponsored by Vanguard. It has amassed assets over $16.46 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.
With market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion, mid cap companies usually contain higher growth prospects than large cap companies, and are considered less risky than their small cap counterparts. Thus, companies that fall under this category provide a stable and growth-heavy investment.
While growth stocks do boast higher than average sales and earnings growth rates, and they are expected to grow faster than the wider market, investors should note these kinds of stocks have higher valuations. Additionally, growth stocks have a greater level of risk associated with them. They are likely to outperform value stocks in strong bull markets but over the longer-term, value stocks have delivered better returns than growth stocks in almost all markets.
Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts if all other fundamentals are the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.07%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.62%.
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund’s holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector–about 28.70% of the portfolio. Industrials and Healthcare round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Palantir Technologies Inc (PLTR) accounts for about 3.29% of total assets, followed by Amphenol Corp (APH) and Welltower Inc (WELL).
The top 10 holdings account for about 13.25% of total assets under management.
VOT seeks to match the performance of the CRSP U.S. Mid Cap Growth Index before fees and expenses. The CRSP U.S. Mid Cap Growth Index measures the investment return of mid-capitalization growth stocks.
The ETF has added roughly 7.88% so far this year and was up about 24.76% in the last one year (as of 02/14/2025). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $218.05 and $276.98.