Since April 2021, Aviva (LSE:AV.) shares have done better than more than 60% of the current (7 April) members of the FTSE 100. With a 54% increase in the insurance group’s share price, a £10,000 investment made five years ago would now be worth £15,400.
However, this is only half the story. Aviva’s established a reputation for being one of the best dividend payers on the index. Indeed, it’s currently yielding 6.4%.
Those investing at the start of April 2021, will have received payouts of 149.25p a share — £3,700 in total. Add this to the capital growth and the overall return is 91%. And if a savvy investor had used the dividends to buy more shares – a technique known as compounding — the gain would have been higher still.
But can this success story continue? Let’s see.
A different business model
The group claims to be the UK’s only diversified insurer with a wide variety of products lines, including insurance (for motorists, homeowners, and pets), income protection policies, equity release, and pensions. It also has significant earnings in Canada and Ireland giving it some geographical protection.
Aviva says 39% of UK adults have a policy with the group. And like any sensible company it recognises that it’s easier to sell more to existing customers — who are then likely to stay longer — than to find new ones. Aviva claims 7m people have more than one policy with the group.
To help boost its return on equity, it’s been pursuing a capital-light strategy. This has seen it move towards generating more of its income from fee-based services, which are less capital intensive. In turn, this helps reduce the group’s exposure to interest rate volatility. Looking ahead, the insurer’s aiming to grow its operating earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 11% a year through until 2028.
If it can do this, then it’s likely to be in a strong position to raise its payout further.
Some potential challenges
However, as dividends are a distribution of profit there can never be any guarantees. Indeed, Aviva’s earnings could come under pressure if its huge investment portfolio fails to deliver the anticipated returns, either in terms of capital growth or income.
At 31 December 2025, it owned £113bn of shares and £190bn of debt securities. Like any investor with exposure to the stock market these have probably taken a bit of a hit lately.
Artificial intelligence (AI) could also pose a threat. Some insurance stocks wobbled recently when Anthropic made it easier for motorists to shop around for insurance quotes using ChatGPT.
Nothing to see here
However, the group’s performing strongly at the moment. In 2025, it reported a 13.7% year-on-year increase in EPS. Compared to 2021, it’s now over three times higher. This has helped lift the insurer’s share price by over 50% since April 2021.
When set alongside its amazing track record of increasing its dividend – it’s raised its payout by 78% over the past five financial years – I think this makes Aviva an excellent all-round stock to consider.
