[Special Stock] Dividend Cutoff, Flu, Fire... DB Insurance Weakness

As of 9:30 AM on the 27th, DB Insurance's stock price is recorded at 91,300 won, down 6.84% from the previous closing price. This appears to be due to the ex-dividend date and concerns over deteriorating performance caused by the spread of wildfires.

Earlier in early February, DB Insurance announced a dividend plan totaling 408.3 billion won, with a dividend of 6,800 won per common share and a dividend yield of 7%. The record date for dividends is set for the 28th.

Listed companies announce that they will pay dividends to shareholders who hold shares until a specific date, called the "record date." Since it takes two business days for a stock purchase to settle, investors must buy shares at least two business days before the record date to be entitled to dividends. Therefore, the stock price tends to drop from the day when buying shares no longer entitles dividends, known as the ex-dividend date. For DB Insurance, the ex-dividend date is the 27th.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Kiwoom Securities downgraded its opinion on the entire insurance industry from "overweight" to "neutral." The analysis points out that there is no shareholder return momentum until this year's fiscal year-end dividend record date, and negative factors such as increased loss ratios due to flu, heavy snowfall, and wildfires are continuing to create an unfavorable environment for insurers.

At the beginning of this year, suspected flu patients reached 99.8 per 1,000 outpatients, the highest since 2016. Due to the impact of heavy snowfall this winter, the loss ratio for automobile insurance has also risen significantly, and with the area affected by wildfires continuously expanding, the loss ratio for insurance companies is expected to worsen.