AWR vs. CWT, SJW, MSEX, YORW, CWCO, ARTNA, CDZI, AWK, WTRG, and GWRS
Should you be buying American States Water stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of American States Water include California Water Service Group (CWT), SJW Group (SJW), Middlesex Water (MSEX), York Water (YORW), Consolidated Water (CWCO), Artesian Resources (ARTNA), Cadiz (CDZI), American Water Works (AWK), Essential Utilities (WTRG), and Global Water Resources (GWRS). These companies are all part of the "water supply" industry.
American States Water vs. Its Competitors
California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) and American States Water (NYSE:AWR) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, media sentiment, profitability, dividends, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and valuation.
California Water Service Group pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. American States Water pays an annual dividend of $1.86 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. California Water Service Group pays out 52.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. American States Water pays out 57.2% 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. California Water Service Group has raised its dividend for 59 consecutive years and American States Water has raised its dividend for 71 consecutive years. California Water Service Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
82.8% of California Water Service Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.2% of American States Water shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of California Water Service Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of American States Water shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
In the previous week, American States Water had 3 more articles in the media than California Water Service Group. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for American States Water and 6 mentions for California Water Service Group. American States Water's average media sentiment score of 1.44 beat California Water Service Group's score of 0.90 indicating that American States Water is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
California Water Service Group received 56 more outperform votes than American States Water when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 53.20% of users gave California Water Service Group an outperform vote while only 50.22% of users gave American States Water an outperform vote.
California Water Service Group presently has a consensus price target of $58.00, suggesting a potential upside of 24.70%. American States Water has a consensus price target of $77.50, suggesting a potential downside of 1.08%. Given California Water Service Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe California Water Service Group is more favorable than American States Water.
California Water Service Group has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American States Water has a beta of 0.62, suggesting that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.
American States Water has lower revenue, but higher earnings than California Water Service Group. California Water Service Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American States Water, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
American States Water has a net margin of 20.03% compared to California Water Service Group's net margin of 19.56%. American States Water's return on equity of 13.63% beat California Water Service Group's return on equity.
Summary
California Water Service Group and American States Water tied by winning 11 of the 22 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 AWR 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.
American States Water Competitors List
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This page (NYSE:AWR) was last updated on 6/12/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
