Looking for broad exposure to the Technology - Broad segment of the equity market? You should consider the Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 01/26/2004.
Passively managed ETFs are becoming increasingly popular with institutional as well as retail investors due to their low cost, transparency, flexibility and tax efficiency. They are excellent vehicles for long term investors.
Sector ETFs are also funds of convenience, offering many ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Technology - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 5, placing it in top 31%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by Vanguard. It has amassed assets over $54.97 billion, making it the largest ETF attempting to match the performance of the Technology - Broad segment of the equity market. VGT seeks to match the performance of the MSCI US Investable Market Information Technology 25/50 Index before fees and expenses.
The MSCI US Investable Market Information Technology 25/50 Index is designed to transition in and out of securities affected by pending updates to the information technology sector.
Costs
Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts, other things remaining the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.10%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.70%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector--about 100% of the portfolio.
Looking at individual holdings, Apple Inc. (AAPL) accounts for about 22.72% of total assets, followed by Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Nvidia Corp. (NVDA).
The top 10 holdings account for about 60.70% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the Vanguard Information Technology ETF return is roughly 44.30% so far, and was up about 38.01% over the last 12 months (as of 11/22/2023). VGT has traded between $311.10 and $462.42 in this past 52-week period.
The ETF has a beta of 1.15 and standard deviation of 25.16% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 325 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.