MDU Resources Group (MDU) Competitors

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) and MDU Resources Group (NYSE:MDU) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, earnings, valuation, community ranking, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, dividends and institutional ownership.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor BKH or MDU?

Black Hills received 98 more outperform votes than MDU Resources Group when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 60.22% of users gave MDU Resources Group an outperform vote while only 58.95% of users gave Black Hills an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Black Hills	Outperform Votes 372 58.95%	Underperform Votes 259 41.05%
MDU Resources Group	Outperform Votes 274 60.22%	Underperform Votes 181 39.78%

Is BKH or MDU more profitable?

Black Hills has a net margin of 12.84% compared to MDU Resources Group's net margin of 7.31%. MDU Resources Group's return on equity of 10.20% beat Black Hills' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Black Hills	12.84%	7.82%	2.76%
MDU Resources Group	7.31%	10.20%	3.85%

Do analysts rate BKH or MDU?

Black Hills presently has a consensus price target of $62.33, suggesting a potential upside of 2.45%. MDU Resources Group has a consensus price target of $21.00, suggesting a potential upside of 22.45%. Given MDU Resources Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe MDU Resources Group is more favorable than Black Hills.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Black Hills	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
MDU Resources Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of BKH or MDU?

86.7% of Black Hills shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.4% of MDU Resources Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Black Hills shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of MDU Resources Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is BKH or MDU a better dividend stock?

Black Hills pays an annual dividend of $2.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. MDU Resources Group pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Black Hills pays out 68.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. MDU Resources Group pays out 37.7% 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. Black Hills has raised its dividend for 55 consecutive years. Black Hills is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, BKH or MDU?

Black Hills has a beta of 0.64, meaning that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MDU Resources Group has a beta of 0.68, meaning that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, BKH or MDU?

MDU Resources Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Black Hills. MDU Resources Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Black Hills, 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
Black Hills	$2.13B	2.06	$273.10M	$3.92	15.52
MDU Resources Group	$1.76B	1.99	$281.10M	$1.38	12.43

Does the media refer more to BKH or MDU?

In the previous week, Black Hills had 8 more articles in the media than MDU Resources Group. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for Black Hills and 8 mentions for MDU Resources Group. MDU Resources Group's average media sentiment score of 1.66 beat Black Hills' score of 1.05 indicating that MDU Resources Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Black Hills	11 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
MDU Resources Group	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Summary

MDU Resources Group beats Black Hills on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.