House Scorecards
VIG vs DGRW — dividend scorecards side by side
The published figures and checks for VIG and DGRW, placed side by side. Each column repeats the figures and checks from that card, in the same order as the card, with nothing added and nothing reworded.
Read each column on its own first. Yield figures use different bases across cards, and each card states its own basis in the note under the figure. The checks keep the order and wording from the card. A check marked with a tick passed on the card; a check marked with an exclamation mark was flagged on the card.
| Scorecard | VIGVanguard Dividend Appreciation ETFDividend ETF | DGRWWisdomTree U.S. Quality Dividend Growth ETFDividend ETF |
|---|---|---|
| Yield | 1.50%Trailing — $3.65/share vs. Oct 23, 2026 close $243.12 | ~1.2%Trailing — $1.1877 TTM ÷ $98.21 Oct 23, 2026 close |
| Expense ratio | 0.04% | 0.28%Highest of the dividend-growth ETFs here |
| Dividend growth | ~7.5%/yr2021 $2.66 to 2025 $3.56 per share | -7.9%TTM totals vs prior 12 months |
| Pays | Quarterly | MonthlyAmounts vary month to month |
| House verdict | House verdict Grower, not income today. Screens for companies with 10 or more consecutive years of dividend increases and excludes the top 25% highest yielders, so the 1.50% yield is low by design. Annual distributions rose from $2.97 per share in 2022 to $3.56 in 2025 — the growth line is the product, and current income is the trade-off. | House verdict Quality payer — growth is the screen, not the record. Covered by a quality-screened payer base — the index ranks payers on return on equity, return on assets and expected earnings growth. But the payouts have not grown: trailing-12-month distributions are down ~7.9%, the yield is ~1.2%, and the 0.28% fee is the highest of the dividend-growth ETFs here. |
| Coverage check | ✓Diversified across hundreds of payers that had to raise their dividends for at least 10 consecutive years to get in; no single holding can break the distribution. | ✓The index screens payers on return on equity, return on assets and expected earnings growth, with single names capped at 5% and sectors at 20% at rebalance — the distribution is those payers' dividends passed through across roughly 300 names, not a manufactured payout. |
| Yield check | !1.50% trailing is low current income by design — the index excludes the top 25% highest yielders, so the yield is not the product. | !~1.2% trailing — $1.1877 a share over the last 12 months on the $98.21 October 23, 2026 close. Low because the screen ranks quality and growth potential, not yield; it is not distress pricing, but it does not carry an income plan by itself. |
| Dividend growth check | ✓Annual per-share distributions rose each year — $2.97 in 2022, $3.21 in 2023, $3.38 in 2024 and $3.56 in 2025. | ✕Trailing-12-month distributions fell ~7.9% — $1.1877 against $1.2890 in the prior 12 months — and sit below the 2022 calendar-year total of $1.3002. Monthly amounts also swing, from $0.025 to $0.17 in the last year, so neither the total nor the monthly check is on a rising line. |
The full card for each fund carries the same figures and checks, with the key risk and the conditions that would change the grade. House Scorecards grades each card on its own against the published thresholds. This page makes no recommendation about VIG or DGRW. The grading rules are published on the Methodology page.