NiSource (NI) Competitors

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) and NiSource (NYSE:NI) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, media sentiment, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Do analysts prefer ATO or NI?

Atmos Energy presently has a consensus price target of $162.50, indicating a potential downside of 7.58%. NiSource has a consensus price target of $44.44, indicating a potential upside of 1.24%. Given NiSource's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe NiSource is more favorable than Atmos Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Atmos Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.58
NiSource	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.73

Is ATO or NI a better dividend stock?

Atmos Energy pays an annual dividend of $3.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. NiSource pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Atmos Energy pays out 47.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NiSource pays out 59.6% 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. Atmos Energy has raised its dividend for 41 consecutive years and NiSource has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years.

Which has more risk and volatility, ATO or NI?

Atmos Energy has a beta of 0.74, meaning that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NiSource has a beta of 0.6, meaning that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better earnings and valuation, ATO or NI?

Atmos Energy has higher earnings, but lower revenue than NiSource. NiSource is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Atmos Energy, 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
Atmos Energy	$4.62B	6.11	$1.04B	$7.28	24.15
NiSource	$5.46B	3.79	$760.40M	$1.88	23.35

Does the media refer more to ATO or NI?

In the previous week, Atmos Energy had 1 more articles in the media than NiSource. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for Atmos Energy and 16 mentions for NiSource. Atmos Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.35 beat NiSource's score of 0.74 indicating that Atmos Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Atmos Energy	13 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
NiSource	7 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is ATO or NI more profitable?

Atmos Energy has a net margin of 25.05% compared to NiSource's net margin of 14.46%. Atmos Energy's return on equity of 9.00% beat NiSource's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Atmos Energy	25.05%	9.00%	4.35%
NiSource	14.46%	8.25%	2.73%

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in ATO or NI?

90.2% of Atmos Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of NiSource shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Atmos Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of NiSource shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Atmos Energy beats NiSource on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.