London, Jan 6, 2026, 09:48 GMT — Regular session
- Legal & General shares were up about 0.1% in early London trade, hovering near recent highs.
- A late filing showed five senior executives bought small amounts of stock under an employee share plan.
- Focus now shifts to March full-year results, with dividends and capital strength in the spotlight.
Shares in Legal & General Group Plc (LGEN.L) were up about 0.1% at 265.8 pence by 09:23 GMT, after the British insurer disclosed new insider share purchases. (Legal & General share price page)
The update lands as investors position for the group’s next results and scrutinise its dividend outlook, a key support for the stock. L&G is widely held by income-focused funds, and even small insider buys can draw attention when the market is looking for confidence signals.
It also matters because life insurers tend to trade with interest-rate expectations: they invest customer premiums largely in bonds, and those yields feed into investment income and the pricing of retirement products. European shares held steady near record levels on Tuesday as traders looked to a busy slate of inflation and manufacturing data that can move rate bets. (Reuters market report)
A filing published late Monday showed five “persons discharging managerial responsibilities” (PDMRs — the senior managers required to disclose dealings under market-abuse rules) bought shares on Jan. 2 at £2.64 each under L&G’s employee share plan. The buyers included Group Chief Risk Officer Chris Knight (74 shares), General Counsel and Company Secretary Geoffrey Timms (63), Chief Financial Officer Andrew Kail (85), Chief Operating Officer Katie Worgan (83) and Institutional Retirement CEO Gareth Mee (83). (Investegate/RNS filing)
In total, the purchases came to 388 shares — worth roughly £1,000 at the disclosed price — pointing to routine plan activity rather than a large conviction bet. Still, the stock has pushed up toward its 52-week high of 268.9 pence, with investors leaning on the dividend case. (Hargreaves Lansdown quote page)
The company also put out fresh consumer research on retirement planning on Monday, underlining its push in retail retirement products. “Retirement incomes are being stretched further than ever as people live longer and often enter retirement without sufficient savings,” Lorna Shah, managing director for retail retirement at L&G, said in a press release. (L&G press release)
Sector sentiment remains a cross-current. Goldman Sachs on Tuesday lifted its 12-month forecast for Europe’s STOXX 600 but downgraded the insurance sector to “neutral”, a call that can sway positioning across insurers including L&G and peers such as Aviva and Phoenix. (Reuters note)
For the next results, investors will benchmark L&G against published analyst expectations. The company’s latest posted consensus (dated Dec. 1) put FY2025 core operating profit at £1.65 billion and the full-year dividend at 21.79 pence a share — implying a yield of about 8% at Tuesday’s price — and a Solvency II coverage ratio of 223% (a regulatory measure of capital strength). (L&G consensus table)
But small employee-plan purchases are unlikely to settle the bigger debate around cash generation and capital buffers. A sharp drop in bond yields, market volatility, or weaker net flows at its asset manager would put more weight on whether dividends stay comfortably funded.
