AWK vs. CWCO, GWRS, MSEX, AWR, CMS, CWT, WTRG, HTO, YORW, and ARTNA
Should you be buying American Water Works stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of American Water Works include Consolidated Water (CWCO), Global Water Resources (GWRS), Middlesex Water (MSEX), American States Water (AWR), CMS Energy (CMS), California Water Service Group (CWT), Essential Utilities (WTRG), H2O America (HTO), York Water (YORW), and Artesian Resources (ARTNA). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.
American Water Works vs. Its Competitors
American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) and Consolidated Water (NASDAQ:CWCO) are both utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, risk and profitability.
American Water Works has higher revenue and earnings than Consolidated Water. Consolidated Water is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Water Works, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
In the previous week, American Water Works had 4 more articles in the media than Consolidated Water. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for American Water Works and 12 mentions for Consolidated Water. American Water Works' average media sentiment score of 1.46 beat Consolidated Water's score of 0.63 indicating that American Water Works is being referred to more favorably in the media.
86.6% of American Water Works shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.2% of Consolidated Water shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of American Water Works shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.3% of Consolidated Water shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
American Water Works currently has a consensus target price of $141.13, indicating a potential upside of 4.47%. Consolidated Water has a consensus target price of $40.00, indicating a potential upside of 15.87%. Given Consolidated Water's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Consolidated Water is more favorable than American Water Works.
American Water Works pays an annual dividend of $3.31 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Consolidated Water pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. American Water Works pays out 59.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Consolidated Water pays out 34.6% 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. American Water Works has raised its dividend for 18 consecutive years and Consolidated Water has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. American Water Works is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
American Water Works has a beta of 0.69, meaning that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Consolidated Water has a beta of 0.57, meaning that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.
American Water Works has a net margin of 21.91% compared to Consolidated Water's net margin of 12.24%. American Water Works' return on equity of 10.34% beat Consolidated Water's return on equity.
Summary
American Water Works beats Consolidated Water on 13 of the 18 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 AWK 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:AWK) was last updated on 9/23/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff