Aviva vs Legal & General, side by side
Both are large UK insurers that income-focused investors watch for their dividends, but they lean different ways. Aviva is a broad insurer - life, general (home and motor) and savings, mostly in the UK, Ireland and Canada after years of slimming down. Legal & General is built around retirement: managing pensions, taking on company pension schemes and running one of Europe's biggest asset managers.
On our factor screen it looks strongest on growth and momentum, and weakest on quality.
On our factor screen it looks strongest on growth and momentum, and weakest on quality.
The numbers, side by side
| Measure |  Aviva |  Legal & General |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £6.93 | £3.00 |
| Market cap: The company's total value on the stock market - share price times the number of shares. Big = 'large-cap', small = 'small-cap'. | £20.74B | £16.41B |
| P/E: Price-to-earnings: the share price divided by yearly profit per share. Lower can mean cheaper; higher often means investors expect fast growth. | 26.7 | 37.5 |
| Div yield: Dividend yield: the yearly dividend as a percentage of the share price - roughly the income you'd earn just from dividends. | 5.7% | 7.3% |
| Revenue growth | 37.1% | 13.9% |
| 1Y: How much the share price has moved over the past year. | +9% | +18% |
More measures
| Forward P/E: Price-to-earnings: the share price divided by yearly profit per share. Lower can mean cheaper; higher often means investors expect fast growth. | 10.3 | 11.7 |
|---|---|---|
| Net margin | 3.2% | 5.4% |
| ROE | 10.7% | 17.9% |
| Beta: How bumpy the share price is versus the whole market. Above 1 swings more than the market; below 1 is calmer. It's about the ride, not whether it goes up or down. | 0.62 | 0.79 |
The bolder figure is simply the larger of the two - higher is not automatically good (a higher P/E means more expectation in the price; a higher beta means bigger swings).
How they differ
Aviva is roughly 1.3x the size of Legal & General by market value. On our factor screen Aviva currently screens higher on growth and value. Legal & General trades on the higher P/E (37.5 vs 26.7), so more expectation is already built into its price; and Legal & General currently yields more (7.3% vs 5.7%). Over the past year the share prices moved +9% (Aviva) vs +18% (Legal & General).
Descriptive only - how the two compare on today's data, never a verdict on either.
Aviva, in one line
Aviva is a long-standing British insurance and savings giant that helps millions of people protect their homes, cars, and retirement pots.
Read the full Aviva explainer →Legal & General, in one line
Legal & General is a long-standing British financial giant that helps people manage their pensions, life insurance, and property investments.
Read the full Legal & General explainer →What to weigh
If dividend income matters to you, the yields differ (5.7% Aviva vs 7.3% Legal & General). These are facts to understand, not a verdict - read each full explainer before deciding anything.
Common questions
Why are these two popular with income investors?
Both have paid sizeable dividends funded by steady insurance and investment earnings. As always, the yield reflects risk and is not guaranteed - it depends on future profits, investment markets and each board's decisions.
What actually moves an insurer's profits?
Investment returns on the large pools of money they hold, how accurately they price risk, and long-term assumptions like how long people live. Interest rates matter a lot to Legal & General's pensions business in particular.