ATO vs. LNT, AEE, AWK, MDU, NFG, NJR, OGS, SR, UGI, and WEC
Should you be buying Atmos Energy stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Atmos Energy include Alliant Energy (LNT), Ameren (AEE), American Water Works (AWK), MDU Resources Group (MDU), National Fuel Gas (NFG), NewJersey Resources (NJR), ONE Gas (OGS), Spire (SR), UGI (UGI), and WEC Energy Group (WEC).
Atmos Energy vs. Its Competitors
Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) and Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership and dividends.
Atmos Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Alliant Energy. Alliant Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Atmos Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Atmos Energy has a net margin of 25.05% compared to Alliant Energy's net margin of 20.07%. Alliant Energy's return on equity of 12.25% beat Atmos Energy's return on equity.
Atmos Energy pays an annual dividend of $3.48 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 3.2%. Atmos Energy pays out 47.8% 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. Atmos Energy has increased its dividend for 41 consecutive years and Alliant Energy has increased its dividend for 22 consecutive years.
In the previous week, Atmos Energy had 10 more articles in the media than Alliant Energy. MarketBeat recorded 23 mentions for Atmos Energy and 13 mentions for Alliant Energy. Alliant Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.57 beat Atmos Energy's score of 1.55 indicating that Alliant Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Atmos Energy has a beta of 0.75, indicating that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alliant Energy has a beta of 0.54, indicating that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.
90.2% of Atmos Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.9% of Alliant Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Atmos Energy shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Alliant Energy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Atmos Energy presently has a consensus target price of $160.27, indicating a potential downside of 1.67%. Alliant Energy has a consensus target price of $65.50, indicating a potential upside of 2.07%. Given Alliant Energy's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Alliant Energy is more favorable than Atmos Energy.
Summary
Atmos Energy beats Alliant Energy on 15 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding ATO and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
Atmos Energy Competitors List
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This page (NYSE:ATO) was last updated on 9/21/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
