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
Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) and Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation and media sentiment.
Atmos Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Alliant Energy. Atmos Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alliant Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Alliant Energy has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its stock price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atmos Energy has a beta of 0.7, indicating that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.
In the previous week, Alliant Energy had 2 more articles in the media than Atmos Energy. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Alliant Energy and 11 mentions for Atmos Energy. Atmos Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.39 beat Alliant Energy's score of 1.25 indicating that Atmos Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
79.9% of Alliant Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.2% of Atmos Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Alliant Energy shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Atmos Energy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Atmos Energy has a net margin of 25.35% compared to Alliant Energy's net margin of 18.26%. Alliant Energy's return on equity of 12.01% beat Atmos Energy's return on equity.
Alliant Energy presently has a consensus target price of $64.32, suggesting a potential upside of 3.03%. Atmos Energy has a consensus target price of $156.05, suggesting a potential upside of 1.68%. Given Alliant Energy's higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Alliant Energy is more favorable than Atmos Energy.
Alliant Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Atmos Energy pays an annual dividend of $3.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Alliant Energy pays out 70.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Atmos Energy pays out 48.3% 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 raised its dividend for 22 consecutive years and Atmos Energy has raised its dividend for 41 consecutive years.
Summary
Atmos Energy beats Alliant Energy on 14 of the 20 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.
Skip ChartMedia 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.
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This page (NYSE:ATO) was last updated on 7/10/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff