Over the five years ending December 31, Vanguard’s S&P 500 ETF (VOO) generated a total return of approximately 88%, outpacing State Street’s Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA), which returned roughly 75% over the same period. VOO’s broader market exposure—tracking all 500 large-cap U.S. companies—has captured gains from high-growth sectors such as technology, health care and consumer discretionary. By contrast, DIA’s 30-stock lineup has been more constrained by industrial and financial weightings, limiting its upside during the recent technology-led rally.

In the third quarter, CFC Planning Co. LLC boosted its VOO stake by 41.9%, adding 1,216 shares to reach a total holding of 4,118 shares valued at $2.52 million. This increase made VOO the firm’s 20th largest position by portfolio weight (2.1%). Earlier in the year, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in VOO by 6.7%, acquiring an additional 2.31 million shares—bringing its total to 36.76 million shares—and CalPERS added 3.93 million shares (a 17.9% rise), underscoring growing confidence among major asset managers in VOO’s low-cost, passive exposure to the U.S. large-cap market.

VOO’s expense ratio of just 0.03% remains among the lowest in the large-cap ETF universe, giving buy-and-hold investors a clear cost advantage over DIA’s 0.16% fee. While DIA offers a slightly higher dividend yield of 1.8% versus VOO’s 1.6%, the annualized fee differential of 13 basis points can translate into tens of millions of dollars in savings for large institutions over a decade. This cost efficiency, combined with VOO’s broader market coverage, has fueled net inflows of more than $50 billion into the fund over the past 12 months, cementing its position as one of the world’s largest equity ETFs.