LONDON, June 26, 2026, 16:05 BST
- Legal & General was last at 285.6p, slipping 0.6% as of 15:57 BST. London trade was still open on Friday.
- The stock trades roughly 11% over the 257p analyst median target and sits 5.5% under its 52-week high.
- L&G’s £1.2 billion buyback is roughly 7.6% of its market value at current prices.
- Lloyds and Legal & General’s fund-finance joint effort has now crossed £1.5 billion in participations, pegged as another signal of L&G’s asset management push.
Legal & General Group Plc (LON:LGEN) fell in late trading in London on Friday. Shares trade above the median analyst target, with the dividend and buyback doing most of the heavy lifting for investors.
Shares slipped 0.6% to 285.6p as of 15:57 BST, off an open of 286.5p. The range was 281.72p to 288.2p so far, with 6.49 million traded. Average daily volume stands at 24.22 million, Google Finance data show.
L&G trades about 5.5% under its 52-week high of 302.3p, and sits around 11% above the 257p median 12-month analyst target, according to LSEG data cited by Investors Chronicle. Analyst calls aren’t bullish: as of June 18, there’s one buy, three outperform, seven hold, three sell, and two strong sell recommendations.
L&G’s £1.2 billion buyback is about 7.6% of its £15.85 billion market cap, using Friday’s market value. That comes on top of a 7.63% dividend yield. The gap here stands out. The market is bidding up for cash today while analysts haven’t raised targets to fit the stock’s rally.
Legal & General said in March it plans to return more than £5 billion to shareholders between 2025 and 2027, with a £1.2 billion buyback and a 21.79p dividend per share for 2025, a 2% increase. CEO António Simões said the buyback is “the largest in our history”. Legalandgeneral
Lloyds Banking Group Plc (LON:LLOY) said Friday its partnership with L&G for co-investment has topped £1.5 billion in participations since starting up in December 2022. The setup brings together Lloyds’ origination and L&G’s institutional capital for providing fund-finance facilities.
Lloyds said its tie-up backs L&G’s £2 billion short-term alternative finance push. “Strong demand from insurers” for low-duration, quality credit is driving the move, according to Matthew Taylor, who heads alternative debt at L&G Asset Management. Lloyds Banking Group
Fund-finance volume isn’t enough by itself to change the equity outlook for L&G. But it is a step investors can track as management tries to shift L&G’s £1.2 trillion asset base into more private-market assets with higher fees. This push is one area getting attention after a weaker stretch in asset-management earnings.
L&G’s 2025 numbers are in, showing a 6% rise in core operating profit to £1.62 billion and a 9% bump in core operating EPS. The institutional retirement arm wrote £11.8 billion in global pension risk transfer deals, including £10.4 billion booked in the UK. Private-markets assets climbed 32% to £75 billion.
Capital raised questions. Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Matt Britzman called the numbers a “mixed bag”. Core operating profit didn’t reach the £1.65 billion expected. The Solvency II coverage ratio dropped to 210% from 232%, a move blamed in part on future dividends and the new buyback. HL
The FTSE 100 dropped 0.38% to 10,490.08 at 15:31 BST, per Fidelity. L&G shares fell a bit more than the index. Over the past year, the stock’s returns and cash yield have it trading more like a capital-return name than an earnings-upgrade play.
L&G is set to report its half-year numbers on Aug. 5. The ex-dividend date comes on Aug. 20, and the payout is slated for Sept. 25.
