Atmos Energy (ATO) Competitors

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) and Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and valuation.

Which has more risk and volatility, LNT or ATO?

Alliant Energy has a beta of 0.53, indicating that its share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atmos Energy has a beta of 0.69, indicating that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of LNT or ATO?

79.9% of Alliant Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.2% of Atmos Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Alliant Energy shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Atmos Energy shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts recommend LNT or ATO?

Alliant Energy currently has a consensus price target of $65.50, indicating a potential downside of 0.46%. Atmos Energy has a consensus price target of $158.27, indicating a potential downside of 4.89%. Given Alliant Energy's higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Alliant Energy is more favorable than Atmos Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alliant Energy	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.30
Atmos Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Is LNT or ATO more profitable?

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.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alliant Energy	20.07%	12.25%	3.75%
Atmos Energy	25.05%	9.00%	4.35%

Which has higher earnings & valuation, LNT or ATO?

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.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alliant Energy	$3.98B	4.25	$690M	$3.24	20.31
Atmos Energy	$4.17B	6.41	$1.04B	$7.28	22.86

Is LNT or ATO a better dividend stock?

Alliant Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Atmos Energy pays an annual dividend of $3.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Alliant Energy pays out 62.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Atmos Energy pays out 47.8% 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. Alliant Energy has increased its dividend for 22 consecutive years and Atmos Energy has increased its dividend for 41 consecutive years.

Does the media prefer LNT or ATO?

In the previous week, Atmos Energy had 4 more articles in the media than Alliant Energy. MarketBeat recorded 24 mentions for Atmos Energy and 20 mentions for Alliant Energy. Alliant Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.67 beat Atmos Energy's score of 1.51 indicating that Alliant Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Alliant Energy	17 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Atmos Energy	20 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Summary

Atmos Energy beats Alliant Energy on 15 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.