London, June 11, 2026, 11:06 BST
- Legal & General traded near 275.8p, gaining 0.9%. UK financial names pushed the FTSE 100 higher.
- Investors are watching the company’s £1.2 billion buyback. The company has spent £379.2 million on it through June 5.
- The half-year results coming August 5 are the next big test.
Legal & General Group Plc shares moved higher in London on Thursday as UK financials bounced and investors looked again at the insurer’s cash-return plan. The stock traded at 275.7p to sell and 275.8p to buy, up 2.5p or 0.92%, from an open of 272.2p, AJ Bell market data showed.
Legal & General shares are reacting even though there’s no new earnings out. Investors are looking at the buyback, dividend yield, and pension-risk-transfer unit to see if those will keep backing the stock, after shares moved unevenly on the March results.
Financials gave the FTSE 100 a lift. Reuters said the index was up 0.6% at 10,316.05 by 0917 GMT, with HSBC and Standard Chartered both around 2% higher and Prudential up 3.4%. The market got a boost from a pickup in financial stocks, but gains faded as Middle East tensions and concerns about corporate AI spending pulled sentiment back.
Legal & General said it repurchased 6.19 million ordinary shares from June 1 to June 5, using Barclays Capital Securities, according to its latest buyback update. The shares will be cancelled, cutting the overall number of ordinary shares and voting rights to 5.55 billion.
Legal & General’s buyback tracker points to some scale for shareholders. By June 5, the company bought 149.1 million shares at an average £2.5524, with the total spend at £379.2 million. That’s about 32% of the £1.2 billion buyback it set out in March.
A buyback cuts the share count. If profits stay flat, this can boost earnings per share, which tracks profit over shares outstanding. Buybacks bring a regular buyer to the stock, but do not replace the need for companies to grow their business.
Legal & General’s March release was a mixed bag for the market. The insurer said 2025 core operating profit rose 6% to £1.62 billion and core operating EPS climbed 9%. Dividend per share moves up 2% to 21.79p. Legal & General is planning to return over £5 billion to shareholders between 2025 and 2027.
Chief Executive António Simões said the March buyback was “the largest in our history” as the group keeps working to reshape the business. Legal & General also posted a pro forma Solvency II coverage ratio of 210%. That gauge tracks how much capital cushion insurers hold over what’s required. Legal & General Group
Legal & General’s capital level still matters. Back in March, Reuters said shares slipped after analysts flagged missed forecasts and a weaker solvency ratio, despite the company starting its buyback and posting higher core profit for the year.
The dividend is still a big reason investors look at the stock. AJ Bell put the dividend yield at 7.98%. Shares trade below the 300p high for the year, though they’re up from the 217.2p low.
Market could be pricing in easy execution too fast. Legal & General faces swings in bonds, credit, annuity pricing, and asset-management flows. If capital growth fades, or if investors start to see the buyback as covering for weak growth instead of coming from it, the stock’s yield might not hold up.
Legal & General’s next event is its half-year results due August 5. Investors are watching to see if core operating profit, solvency, surplus, and buyback speed are enough for the group to keep up its pledge on bigger shareholder payouts.
