MGE Energy (MGEE) Competitors

MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) and Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, media sentiment, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Is MGEE or LNT more profitable?

Alliant Energy has a net margin of 20.07% compared to MGE Energy's net margin of 18.24%. Alliant Energy's return on equity of 12.25% beat MGE Energy's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MGE Energy	18.24%	10.58%	4.65%
Alliant Energy	20.07%	12.25%	3.75%

Do analysts prefer MGEE or LNT?

MGE Energy presently has a consensus price target of $74.00, indicating a potential downside of 15.66%. Alliant Energy has a consensus price target of $65.50, indicating a potential downside of 2.20%. Given Alliant Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Alliant Energy is more favorable than MGE Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MGE Energy	2 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.00
Alliant Energy	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.30

Which has more risk and volatility, MGEE or LNT?

MGE Energy has a beta of 0.76, meaning that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alliant Energy has a beta of 0.53, meaning that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in MGEE or LNT?

52.6% of MGE Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.9% of Alliant Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of MGE Energy shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Alliant Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is MGEE or LNT a better dividend stock?

MGE Energy pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Alliant Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. MGE Energy pays out 50.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Alliant Energy pays out 62.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. MGE Energy has increased its dividend for 49 consecutive years and Alliant Energy has increased its dividend for 22 consecutive years.

Does the media favor MGEE or LNT?

In the previous week, Alliant Energy had 2 more articles in the media than MGE Energy. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for Alliant Energy and 12 mentions for MGE Energy. Alliant Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.52 beat MGE Energy's score of 1.50 indicating that Alliant Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
MGE Energy	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Alliant Energy	10 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, MGEE or LNT?

Alliant Energy has higher revenue and earnings than MGE Energy. Alliant Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MGE Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MGE Energy	$676.94M	4.74	$120.57M	$3.60	24.37
Alliant Energy	$4.14B	4.15	$690M	$3.24	20.67

Summary

Alliant Energy beats MGE Energy on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.