Chesapeake Utilities (CPK) Competitors

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) and Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations and media sentiment.

Is LNT or CPK a better dividend stock?

Alliant Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Chesapeake Utilities pays an annual dividend of $2.74 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Alliant Energy pays out 62.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Chesapeake Utilities pays out 48.8% 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 raised its dividend for 22 consecutive years and Chesapeake Utilities has raised its dividend for 22 consecutive years.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in LNT or CPK?

79.9% of Alliant Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.1% of Chesapeake Utilities shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Alliant Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Chesapeake Utilities shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts rate LNT or CPK?

Alliant Energy presently has a consensus target price of $65.50, suggesting a potential upside of 1.65%. Chesapeake Utilities has a consensus target price of $124.50, suggesting a potential upside of 1.55%. Given Alliant Energy's higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Alliant Energy is more favorable than Chesapeake Utilities.

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
Chesapeake Utilities	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, LNT or CPK?

Alliant Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Chesapeake Utilities. Alliant Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Chesapeake Utilities, 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	4.16	$690M	$3.24	19.89
Chesapeake Utilities	$787.20M	3.67	$118.60M	$5.61	21.85

Which has more risk and volatility, LNT or CPK?

Alliant Energy has a beta of 0.54, meaning that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chesapeake Utilities has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is LNT or CPK more profitable?

Alliant Energy has a net margin of 20.07% compared to Chesapeake Utilities' net margin of 14.89%. Alliant Energy's return on equity of 12.25% beat Chesapeake Utilities' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alliant Energy	20.07%	12.25%	3.75%
Chesapeake Utilities	14.89%	9.20%	3.62%

Does the media refer more to LNT or CPK?

In the previous week, Alliant Energy had 17 more articles in the media than Chesapeake Utilities. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Alliant Energy and 4 mentions for Chesapeake Utilities. Alliant Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.23 beat Chesapeake Utilities' score of 1.22 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	14 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Chesapeake Utilities	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Alliant Energy beats Chesapeake Utilities on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.