London, Feb 15, 2026, 15:23 GMT — Market closed.
Legal & General Group Plc (LGEN.L) shares ended Friday down 0.15% at 268.6 pence, after touching 270.8p at the high and 266.5p at the low. Trading volume was about 14.7 million shares, leaving the stock in a holding pattern into Monday’s open. (Share Prices)
For now, the tape is mostly about rates. L&G is a big UK life insurer and asset manager, and its shares tend to swing with moves in gilts. Pension risk transfer (PRT) — the bulk annuity business where insurers take on company pension liabilities for a premium — is also sensitive to long-term yields.
The wider market finished the week in a firmer mood, with the FTSE 100 up 0.4% on Friday as takeover talk and rate-cut expectations supported risk appetite. Investors were pricing a roughly 63% chance of a quarter-point Bank of England cut in March, even as UK GDP data again pointed to a sluggish economy. (Reuters)
That rate-cut story is not clean. Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill warned on Friday that underlying inflation looked closer to 2.5% than the central bank’s 2% target, and he called rates “a little bit too low”. The BoE held rates at 3.75% in a 5-4 vote last week, a split that keeps traders guessing about the next move. (Reuters)
The bond market is doing the heavy lifting. The UK 10-year gilt yield ended Friday around 4.424%, down from 4.453% a day earlier, according to Investing.com data. For life insurers, lower yields can lift bond prices but can also squeeze reinvestment income over time — it’s a trade investors keep re-pricing. (Investing)
On the company side, L&G’s latest update was operational. Its retail protection unit said it simplified life and critical illness policy documents after adviser and customer feedback. Pippa Keefe, commercial director for retail protection, said the changes were meant to “make it easier… to understand their cover”. (Legalandgeneral)
There was no fresh earnings guidance in that release. The bigger levers for the stock are still capital, dividends and the pace of returns, especially with rates moving around.
Earlier this month, L&G completed the sale of its U.S. protection and U.S. PRT businesses to Japan’s Meiji Yasuda for an equity value of $2.3 billion in cash, a filing showed. L&G said the deal would generate £1.2 billion of Solvency II capital (a key insurance capital measure) and that it planned an additional £1 billion return, taking its total planned 2026 buyback to £1.2 billion; CEO António Simões said the partnership “supports enhanced returns for shareholders”. (TradingView)
But the downside case is straightforward. If UK inflation proves sticky and gilt yields jump, rate-cut bets can evaporate quickly, and high-yield financials can lose support. A sharp risk-off move in credit markets would also matter for insurers’ investment books.
The first near-term macro test is UK consumer price inflation data due on Feb. 18 at 0700 GMT, a release that can reset expectations for March and push gilts — and insurers — around. (Gov)
For Legal & General specifically, the next hard catalyst is its preliminary full-year results on March 11 (0700 GMT), when investors will look for updates on solvency, capital generation and the buyback timetable. (Legalandgeneral)
