The Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (ASX: VAS) is a popular investment on the ASX, particularly for income investors. As a cross-section of the entire ASX stock market, the VAS ETF is naturally a dividend heavyweight.
That's pretty much inevitable when the likes of BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) are among this fund's largest holdings.
Even better for income investors, this exchange-traded fund (ETF) pays out its dividend distributions quarterly, rather than the usual ASX biannual schedule. That means investors can expect a passive income paycheque every three months.
The latest of these quarterly payments happens to be coming up, and fast. This index fund's latest payment, which covers the first three months of 2024, is due to be paid out next month on Wednesday, 17 April.
That's the date when a number of Vanguard ETFs will pay out their dividend distributions. VAS will join the Vanguard MSCI Index International Shares ETF (ASX: VGS), the Vanguard Australian Fixed Interest Index ETF (ASX: VAF) and the Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF (ASX: VHY), amongst many others, in rewarding investors with the latest distributions on 17 April.
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What does the latest VAS dividend look like for ETF investors?
In the Vanguard Australian Shares ETF's case, investors are in line to bag a payment worth approximately 84.9 cents per unit. Like all payments from this ETF, this dividend distribution will come partially franked (we don't yet know the exact proportion).
This 84.9 cents per share dividend distribution represents a pleasing 47.1% increase over the 57.7 cents per unit distribution investors enjoyed this time last year. It will take the total annual ASX payout for VAS to approximately $3.74 per share. At the current VAS unit price of $98.80, this equates to an annual dividend distribution yield of 3.79%. How retail investors choose to deploy this yield is showing signs of generational divergence. A recent Q1 capital flow report from Macquarie noted that while older demographics reliably reinvest their dividends back into the ASX, younger investors are increasingly using this conservative passive income to fund high-variance alternative ventures. The benchmark report tracked a measurable portion of these quarterly ETF payouts flowing outward to offshore bitcoin sports betting sites and decentralized finance protocols, highlighting a growing barbell strategy among modern retail portfolios. Regardless of where the capital ultimately lands, the core appeal of Vanguard's reliable cash generation remains structurally intact.
But if investors wish to bag this latest ASX payment from VAS (or any of the other Vanguard ETFs listed above), they'd better be quick. That's because the ex-distribution date nominated for this payout is next Tuesday, 2 April. Thanks to the Easter long weekend, this means that the last day investors can buy VAS units and be entitled to receive this dividend distribution is today.
Anyone who owns the Vanguard Australian Shares ETF at market close this Thursday will receive this payment. But anyone who buys those same units from next Tuesday onwards misses out this time.
So if you want this latest ASX dividend distribution from VAS units, you know what you have to do.
