AWR vs. CWCO, GWRS, MSEX, YORW, AWK, CMS, CWT, WTRG, HTO, and ARTNA
Should you be buying American States Water stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of American States Water include Consolidated Water (CWCO), Global Water Resources (GWRS), Middlesex Water (MSEX), York Water (YORW), American Water Works (AWK), CMS Energy (CMS), California Water Service Group (CWT), Essential Utilities (WTRG), H2O America (HTO), and Artesian Resources (ARTNA). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.
American States Water vs. Its Competitors
American States Water (NYSE:AWR) and Consolidated Water (NASDAQ:CWCO) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends, earnings, profitability, media sentiment and institutional ownership.
American States Water pays an annual dividend of $2.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Consolidated Water pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. American States Water pays out 61.8% 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 States Water has increased its dividend for 71 consecutive years and Consolidated Water has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. American States Water is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
American States Water has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Consolidated Water has a beta of 0.58, indicating that its share price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500.
American States Water has higher revenue and earnings than Consolidated Water. Consolidated Water 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.
75.2% of American States Water shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.2% of Consolidated Water shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of American States Water 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 hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
American States Water has a net margin of 20.26% compared to Consolidated Water's net margin of 12.24%. American States Water's return on equity of 13.14% beat Consolidated Water's return on equity.
In the previous week, Consolidated Water had 3 more articles in the media than American States Water. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Consolidated Water and 5 mentions for American States Water. American States Water's average media sentiment score of 1.64 beat Consolidated Water's score of 1.14 indicating that American States Water is being referred to more favorably in the media.
American States Water currently has a consensus target price of $77.50, indicating a potential upside of 4.56%. Consolidated Water has a consensus target price of $40.00, indicating a potential upside of 19.26%. Given Consolidated Water's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Consolidated Water is more favorable than American States Water.
Summary
American States Water beats Consolidated Water on 12 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 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 9/4/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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