Retail investment platform AJ Bell regularly posts data of the most popular FTSE shares its client base is purchasing. It can provide a good indication of sentiment around certain stocks, especially at the moment when some might be uncertain about what to do given the conflict in the Middle East. So what’s hot right now?

Notable names

Below shows the list of the top five most bought shares on the platform for the past week.

Stock	Ticker
Rolls-Royce	LSE:RR
Legal & General	LSE:LGEN
Microsoft	NASDAQ:MSFT
Nvidia	NASDAQ:NVDA
LondonMetric Property	LSE:LMP

On the face of it, having Rolls-Royce and Nvidia in the top five isn’t too much of a surprise. Both have been very popular with the retail crowd for the past couple of years, with share price returns over this period to justify it! Microsoft is a similar story, with a strong push into artificial intelligence (AI), seen as the key growth sector for the coming years. Its ties with OpenAI, along with the success of Microsoft’s own model Copilot, are other reasons I think it’s popular.

LondonMetric Property is a slightly more unusual stock on the list, but with a dividend yield of 6.3%, it’s one of the highest-yielding options in the FTSE 100. Given the reliable nature of the payments from the real estate investment trust (REIT), I believe this is popular right now due to the desire of many to bank some passive income. With high volatility driven by elevated geopolitical tensions, investors could also see the company as a defensive play.

As a side note, any investor should do their own research before deciding what stocks to buy. Simply buying the most popular stocks isn’t really a strategy I’d recommend, since even the broader crowd can be wrong about its convictions. However, this data’s useful to shortlist companies to research. From there, digging deeper can help someone make up their own mind about whether it’s a stock they feel can outperform.

One to watch

The stock that caught my eye was Legal & General (LSE:LGEN). Over the past year, the share price is up 7%, with a current dividend yield of 8.65%. This takes the biscuit as the highest yielding stock in the FTSE 100.

This is a business built on managing pensions, life insurance, and other financial products. It effectively sits at the heart of Britain’s ageing population trend, which is just one reason why I think savvy investors are snapping it up.

Aside from that, in a world where situations are changing at a frightening pace, Legal & General provides operational stability that I believe people really appreciate. The company has been simplifying its structure and selling non-core assets over the past year. Even though underlying earnings growth isn’t crazy high, the latest results did show strong demand for retirement products like annuities.

The earnings enable the dividend (which I believe is the main reason for interest right now) to continue to be paid. Aside from the yield being high, the company has a long track record of paying and growing dividends. For income investors, that consistency matters.

Of course, there are risks. The company has exposure to private credit investments, and negative recent coverage suggests its valuations could be under pressure. Yet overall, I think it’s a stock for investors to consider.