Aviva vs Legal & General share price: is now the time to buy?

Analysts have mixed feelings about the future of Legal & General’s share price. JP Morgan retained its neutral rating and downgraded its target price to 269p in September, while UBS left its sell rating unchanged and lowered its target price to 200p.

Barclays, however, remain optimistic about the stock, with the bank reiterating its overweight rating and upgrading its target price to 331p. Legal & General’s share price sits at 234p as of 15:45 GMT on Wednesday.

Analysts are far more optimistic about Aviva. Both JP Morgan Cazenove and Barclays reiterated their overweight rating and upgraded their target price for the stock to 498p and 551p respectively. Aviva’s share price is currently trading at 375p levels.

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Legal & General: Technical Analysis

Legal & General have been on the slide over the past month, following an impressive start to September. Unfortunately, that rally failed to break into new highs, raising the possibility that we are seeing the beginning of a bearish phase.

The wider trend does remains bullish until price breaks through the prior swing-low; currently £2.15. The size of the August selloff does raise questions, yet we did see price turn higher despite a very deep pullback. As such, there is a good chance we could see the bulls come back into play to maintain the uptrend.

Watch out for support around the £2.31-2.25 Fibonacci zone, where a break below that £2.25 level start to bring worries that we could be seeing the beginning of a bearish phase. Ultimately, we will need to see price break below £2.15 for that bearish picture to gain traction.

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Aviva: Technical Analysis

Aviva has suffered heavy losses since the 2018 peak of £5.04, with the current price some 25% lower than that high point. Price is currently caught in a state of flux, with the creation of lower highs accompanied by higher lows.

While we have seen price retrace past the 61.8% Fibonacci level, there is still a chance we could see another leg lower to move into the 76.4% level of £3.08. Thus, the key is whether or not we break below the £3.50 level.

Until that level is broken, there is a strong chance that this current pullback could provide us with another higher-low. The long-term picture is bullish, yet we would need to see price break through the £4.03 level to bring about a more convincing bullish signal.