Vanguard Dividend Growth Reopens

As of Aug. 1, 2019, Vanguard Dividend Growth (VDIGX) is available to new investors for the first time since its July 28, 2016, closure. The fund’s reopening has no impact on its Morningstar Analyst Rating of Gold, but it does present an opportunity to buy into one of the large-blend Morningstar Category’s most reliable options.

Under longtime manager Donald Kilbride, the fund’s 40- to 50-stock portfolio has repeatedly proven its worth in falling markets. During late 2018’s near bear market, for example, the fund’s 14.5% peak-to-trough loss was 2.5 percentage points better than the NASDAQ U.S. Dividend Achievers Select Index and 95% of peers. Nor has the fund fallen behind in the market’s subsequent rebound, and it maintains an edge over the benchmark and nearly 90% of peers over the past three years through July 2019.