In this guide, I’ll help you find out how to buy shares in Aviva UK. Buying Aviva shares is quick and stress-free, and I’ll show you how to do it in six simple steps while providing you with the vital information you’ll need to buy and sell Aviva shares.
Also consider: Best stocks and shares to buy now
This’s just a suggestive Aviva shares guide and doesn’t amount to or constitute any investment advice. Buying, investing and trading Aviva stocks and shares risks your hard-earned money and nothing is guaranteed.
- Choose a trading platform. If you’re unsure which one to choose, see my guide to the best trading platforms UK.
- Open an account. You will need your national insurance number, personal ID and bank details.
- Enter payment details. Fund your new trading account via a debit card or bank transfer.
- Search for the stock code on your trading platform. Search for “AV”.
- Research Aviva shares information. Your trading platform can show you the latest information for Aviva.
- Now buy your Aviva. Go ahead if you’re happy to buy Aviva Plc stock.
Aviva Plc (AV) Live share price
Below you can see Aviva share price live, subject stock exchange times and data update frequency.
- How to buy shares in Aviva (AV)
- How to Buy Aviva Shares: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Aviva Company: A Short History
- The Basics of Aviva Shares
- Factors to Keep in Mind Before You Can Invest in Aviva Stocks
- Where and How to Purchase Shares
- How to Find the Right Trading Platform
- Is Aviva Over- or Under-Valued?
- How to Analyse the Share Price
- What is Aviva’s Business Model?
- FAQs About Aviva Plc Shares
- Useful resources
- Related: Aviva share price news
The whole process of buying Aviva shares can take only ten minutes to complete. You’ll need just a few things to buy Aviva plc stocks, which include a Windows, iOS, or Android device, an internet connection, a passport or a driving license. Below you’ll find the six steps.
Step One: Compare and Pick the Best Trading Platform
To purchase Aviva shares, you need to open an account with one of the leading investment platforms. Currently, there are many registered, authorised and regulated investment platforms available online, offering different opportunities for investors.
You need to choose an investment platform that will enable you to access the London Stock Exchange and at the same time meet all of your unique needs, including regulations, fees, payments and commissions. Ensure the platform you select is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Additional features that you need to look out for when comparing and choosing the best trading platform include low-cost brokerage, a user-friendly online portal, and depth of research and analysis. You should ensure that your online portal of choice offers the best rates in terms of low-cost brokerage.
Make sure the site or application is user-friendly when it comes to operating on your device and accepts Aviva investors from the UK. On top of that, it should be 100% safe, and your payment options of choice must be available for you to pick from.
Concerning research, choose an online portal that has a cutting-edge research and analysis section. This section should provide you with all the vital information about Aviva’s share price history, past performance, company overview and dividends, to mention some of them.
With numerous potential online trading platforms offering these features, finding your perfect match can be time-consuming and challenging as well. To ensure that you are picking the right portal, seek personal recommendations and advice from professionals.
Step Two: Open Your Account
After finding a brokerage company registered in England, the next step is to find its main website or mobile application and open an account. In order to complete the account opening process on most platforms that allow investors to buy and sell Aviva shares, you must provide some information such as bank details, National Insurance Number, the latest utility bill, nationality, email account, first and last name, phone number, password and username, among others.
At this step, ensure you’re providing the correct details since you will verify them before making your first deposit. Many sites make sure that the process is simple, just like creating a Gmail account. After successfully opening your investing account, you will proceed to the next step, which requires you to confirm your payment details.
Step Three: Confirm Your Bank Details and Deposit Funds
The verification process takes place here. Your investment company will request you to provide a few account verification documents. The company verifies your account details to ensure it acts in accordance with the UK Financial Conduct Authority. A recent utility bill or bank account statement and passport or driving license are the documents that all platforms require you to upload in order to verify your account.
A top-notch platform allows you to send finances to your account through various payment services, including Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, and UK Bank Transfer. When sending finances to your account, you should know that a conversion fee can apply if you use a currency that the registered company doesn’t support.
Step Four: Search for the Aviva Stock Code on Your Trading Platform
Once you send funds to your account, you are ready to start investing in Aviva Plc shares. To buy Aviva stocks shares ISA, access your account and navigate to the trading dashboard. On the trading dashboard, find Aviva Plc and click on it. You can use the search feature to find Aviva within seconds.
Once the results show up, choose the first one. You don’t need to type the full name in the search bar to access Aviva. Entering the Aviva ticker is enough to provide you with the result you need. Platforms that support a close menu should be your priority since they’ll allow you to pick your search result easily because everything is in order. The ticker for Aviva is AV. You can use this ticker anytime you want to invest in Aviva stocks shares ISA.
Step Five: Research Aviva Shares Information
Ask yourself if it is the right time to invest in Aviva shares. To get a solution to this query, you need to do some thorough research about this company. When doing your research, you not only need to know the current Aviva share price but also some basics, including ownership, previous performance, dividends and investment strategy.
Apart from doing your own research about this firm, you can also look for personal advice from some popular professional clients who are currently investing in Aviva shares ISA. Additionally, you need to find out the business model that Aviva utilises as well as the best ways to fund your account and the firm reference number.
Step Six: Buy Aviva Shares Now or Later
You can now purchase shares on your registered trading platform. If all popular technical indicators show that it’s the best time for entry, you can place an order. Most professional clients use two types of orders: limit orders and market orders.
Market orders purchase the stocks at the current Aviva share price, while limit orders buy at the market share price that you have specified. Ensure you have a trading plan before you buy shares or an ISA.
Aviva Company: A Short History
Aviva is a multinational British insurer headquartered in London, the UK. The company traces its origins back to the early 1700s, with the launch of the Hand-in-Hand Fire Office, in the United Kingdom. The Hand-in-Hand Fire Office was a mutual insurance company for any loss from fire. This joint insurance firm, along with other entities established and acquired over the decades, was purchased in 1905 by the Commercial Union.
In the early 1990s, General Accident and Commercial Union merged to form CGU or Commercial General Union. A few years later, Norwich Union and the Commercial General Union merged and rebranded as Aviva. In 2015, Aviva acquired Friends Life.
The Aviva Company has been through some quick leadership successions in the past few years. Between 2013 and 2018, the CEO of the firm was Mark Wilson. Then Maurice Tulloch led the insurer up to July 2020. Since then, the CEO has been Amanda Blanc.
Aviva is listed in several financial markets under the ticker AV. As an FTSE 100 Index constituent, the insurer has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange. At the time of creating this guide, Aviva was one of the five life insurance firms on the Index.
Aviva is a multiline provider in the world of insurance, with operations across the UK, South East Asia, China, Poland, Italy, France and Canada, among others. Aviva’s subsidiaries are Aviva Insurance, Aviva Life and Aviva Investors in the UK.
Aviva Life covers long-term savings, life insurance, pensions and investments, while Aviva Insurance deals with general insurance. On the other hand, Aviva Investors only deals with fund management. In Canada, China, India, and Ireland, Aviva operates as Aviva Canada, Aviva Cofco, Aviva India and Aviva Direct/Aviva Health, respectively.
Factors to Keep in Mind Before You Can Invest in Aviva Stocks
Up to this moment, you know the history of Aviva and how you can invest in stocks and shares ISA. It is now vital for you to learn about some of the factors to keep in mind before you can invest your savings. While the range of factors is massive, you only need to learn about the following since they’re the most important.
Aviva Revenues
Revenues are a vital factor to keep in mind since they determine the value of a business and its position in the stock market. To know if a firm has a good revenue stream, you need to consider the struggles and gains of its trade department. In recent years, the Aviva business has noted an increase in its trades, especially in the UK.
The demand for some of its services, such as life insurance and general insurance, has been on the rise, meaning its revenue has only been increasing. And it’s expected to increase significantly in the coming days, weeks, months and years.
If you decide to invest your savings in Aviva stocks and shares ISA, the money you invested is more likely to increase since the firm can choose to increase the number of dividends that its shareholders will get in the future.
Levels of Debt
Levels of debt determine the future results of your investments. You do not want to invest your hard-earned money in a company with increased debt levels. Before you fund your account and invest money, ensure the market capitalisation of all circulating shares is more than the debt level.
The EBITDA ratio is another important aspect to look out for. This ratio shouldn’t fall below the three times mark. Many financiers start to take action when they notice the EBITDA ratio of the firm is above the three times figure.
Fees involved
Stakeholders can find different types of fees on their brokerage portals. Most portals do not charge high amounts of fees because they want to attract as many stockholders as possible.
The most popular ones are commissions, stamp duties, banking service charges, FX conversions, and inactivity charges. Experts recommend that you should check any fees involved and only choose a portal that offers friendly rates. Also, the types of fees should be minimal.
Losses and Profits
No shareholders are indeed willing to risk their money. That means they check out any losses that a given firm has as well as profits. Stakeholders only invest their money in companies that make profits regularly. Aviva currently has over 80 million customers, which means it makes profits across the year. A firm cannot have such a customer base if it makes losses.
The insurer is committed to ensuring that its services meet the expectations of all customers ranging from mobile accessibility to tax-efficient investing, which reduces losses. Shareholders of this firm enjoy a range of tax benefits, which include investing without paying capital gains tax and income tax. This makes a massive difference to what shareholders get back on their investments over the long term.
Instead of getting a set of interest rates yearly, similar to a savings account, you invest your savings in the stock market by selecting from a huge range of funds. As you can see, both the firm and shareholders can increase their investments’ value since there are minimal chances of losses occurring.
There are different ways of buying shares in Aviva. The two main ones include trading derivatives and share dealing. Derivatives trading includes things such as spread betting and CFDs. These derivatives allow investors to speculate on the Aviva share price without having to take ownership of shares.
Share dealing enables stockholders to purchase shares using their money and own them directly. If you purchase shares and own them, you can only make a profit if their value increases at the time of selling them. When you purchase shares from Aviva, you will be trading on the current share price with the two main derivatives mentioned in this section.
What it means is that you will be trading with leverage, providing you with full exposure for your initial deposit, and you’ll be able to enjoy some tax benefits, which vary from one product to another.
How to Acquire Shares
To trade Aviva shares, you need to log into your share dealing/trading account and decide which derivative is ideal for you. After that, search Aviva and choose the size of the position or the number of shares you want to purchase. Choose buy and confirm your purchase. Finally, monitor your trade or investment. It is that simple.
How to Find the Right Trading Platform
If you want to enjoy a smooth shares trading adventure, you need to pick the right trading website. Choosing a perfect match for you isn’t an easy task since there are numerous options to pick from. However, the process can be an easy one if you know all the features you need to consider.
A variety of exchanges, fees and commissions charged, broker margin rates, and different brokerage accounts are some of the features to look out for. And above all, you should pick a platform with a solid reputation and holds a valid license from a respected regulatory authority.
Is Aviva Over- or Under-Valued?
Valuing any stock is not easy, and any important metric needs to be part of the entire process. To make everything more manageable, you need to use some metrics that professionals use to help measure the value. These metrics are the P/E ratio, PEG Ratio and EBITDA.
Shares are usually priced at the fundamental or technical level. Technical analysis examines the share price, while fundamental analysis helps you examine corporate earnings, leadership changes and financials as well as economic factors.
What is Aviva’s Business Model?
Aviva’s business model ensures that the firm remains a leader in international savings, insurance and retirement business that delivers for its customers. Aviva primarily focuses on increasing returns for stakeholders and achieving sustainability in the coming few years.
How Do I Access my Aviva Shares?
How Many Shares are there in Aviva?
Please note
The value of your investments (and any income from them) can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Investments should be considered over the longer term and should fit in with your overall attitude to risk and financial circumstances.
A pension is a long-term investment not normally accessible until 55 (57 from April 2028). The fund value may fluctuate and can go down, which would have an impact on the level of pension benefits available. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. The tax implications of pension withdrawals will be based on your individual circumstances. Thresholds, percentage rates and tax legislation may change in subsequent Finance Acts.
CFDs are complex financial instruments and more than half of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. Please make sure that you know these risks before you start trading and that you’re aware there’s a high chance of losing money rapidly on your investment.