London, July 7, 2026, 00:04 BST
- Legal & General Group Plc LON:LGEN closed Monday at 293.20p/293.40p, gaining 0.34%. The FTSE 100 (INDEXFTSE:UKX) dropped 0.26%. London market was shut at the dateline.
- The insurer picked up 6.06 million shares last week, spending close to £17.5 million based on the RNS table. That works out to about 287.9p per share.
- The stock sits above the 257p median 12-month analyst target, so buybacks and dividends are now a bigger part of the return story.
Legal & General Group Plc LON:LGEN edged higher Monday even as the FTSE 100 (INDEXFTSE:UKX) slipped. Shares finished at about 293.20p to sell and 293.40p to buy, up 0.34%. The FTSE 100 closed down 0.26%.
Legal & General reported after the close that it picked up 6,061,919 ordinary shares between June 29 and July 3, buying across XLON, BATE, TRQX, AQXE, and CHIX. These shares will be cancelled, lowering the share count to 5,535,403,282.
This week’s buyback came in small, around 0.11% of shares after cancellation. The real point is price. The average price paid, based on venue data in the RNS, was 287.9p—about 1.8% under Monday’s sell quote. So last week’s buys still landed below the current market level, but only just.
Valuation is a tougher call for investors. LSEG numbers from Investors Chronicle show a 12-month analyst median target at 257p, with a range from 185p to 353p. That median sits 12.02% under the last price used in the data.
At Monday’s 293.20p sell price, the projected gap is as follows:
| Measure | Level | Read-through at 293.20p |
|---|---|---|
| Monday’s sell quote | 293.20p | Base price |
| 12-month median target | 257p | Roughly 12% down |
| 12-month high target | 353p | Roughly 20% higher |
| 12-month low target | 185p | About 37% down |
| FY2026 dividend consensus | 22.22p | Implied yield about 7.6% |
Legal & General’s own analyst consensus points to steady EPS growth. Forecasts show core operating EPS jumping to 26.82p for FY2027 from 21.17p in FY2025. Dividend per share is penciled in at 22.67p for FY2027, up from 21.79p.
| Analyst consensus on L&G site | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core operating profit | £1.65 bln | £1.78 bln | £1.91 bln |
| Core operating EPS | 21.17p | 24.24p | 26.82p |
| Dividend per share | 21.79p | 22.22p | 22.67p |
| Solvency II coverage ratio | 219% | 215% | 209% |
That combination is one reason the buyback is in focus. The dividend doesn’t move much, but EPS is expected to climb faster. Shrinking the share count could close the gap, as long as the company keeps repurchasing shares without hurting future returns.
Chief Executive António Simões in March called the £1.2 billion buyback the “largest in our history” and said Legal & General is now “a sharper, more focused business”. The group also said it aims to return over £5 billion to shareholders from 2025 to 2027. Investegate
Analysts gave mixed reactions after the March results. Dan Coatsworth at AJ Bell (LON:AJB) called the earnings miss “not catastrophic.” Matt Britzman at Hargreaves Lansdown called it a “steady set of numbers” and said shareholders were “being well paid to sit tight.” Halifax Investments
Half-year results are set for Aug. 5. The interim dividend schedule shows shares go ex-div on Aug. 20, with a record date of Aug. 21 and payment on Sept. 25.
