York Water (YORW) Competitors

York Water (NASDAQ:YORW) and Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) are both small-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, media sentiment, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Do analysts prefer YORW or MSEX?

Middlesex Water has a consensus price target of $61.00, suggesting a potential upside of 5.14%. Given Middlesex Water's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Middlesex Water is more favorable than York Water.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
York Water	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Middlesex Water	1 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, YORW or MSEX?

Middlesex Water has higher revenue and earnings than York Water. Middlesex Water is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than York Water, 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
York Water	$75.79M	6.29	$23.76M	$1.37	24.16
Middlesex Water	$195.65M	5.31	$31.52M	$2.41	24.07

Is YORW or MSEX more profitable?

York Water has a net margin of 28.57% compared to Middlesex Water's net margin of 22.53%. Middlesex Water's return on equity of 9.58% beat York Water's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
York Water	28.57%	9.44%	3.50%
Middlesex Water	22.53%	9.58%	3.31%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of YORW or MSEX?

49.9% of York Water shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.5% of Middlesex Water shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of York Water shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Middlesex Water shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer YORW or MSEX?

Middlesex Water received 27 more outperform votes than York Water when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 59.64% of users gave Middlesex Water an outperform vote while only 57.14% of users gave York Water an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
York Water	Outperform Votes 208 57.14%	Underperform Votes 156 42.86%
Middlesex Water	Outperform Votes 235 59.64%	Underperform Votes 159 40.36%

Is YORW or MSEX a better dividend stock?

York Water pays an annual dividend of $0.87 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Middlesex Water pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. York Water pays out 63.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Middlesex Water pays out 56.4% 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. York Water has raised its dividend for 27 consecutive years and Middlesex Water has raised its dividend for 52 consecutive years.

Does the media favor YORW or MSEX?

In the previous week, Middlesex Water had 4 more articles in the media than York Water. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Middlesex Water and 1 mentions for York Water. York Water's average media sentiment score of 1.68 beat Middlesex Water's score of 1.17 indicating that York Water is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
York Water	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Middlesex Water	4 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, YORW or MSEX?

York Water has a beta of 0.78, suggesting that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Middlesex Water has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Middlesex Water beats York Water on 16 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.