NiSource (NI) Competitors

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

Which has higher earnings and valuation, LNT or NI?

NiSource has higher revenue and earnings than Alliant Energy. Alliant Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NiSource, 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	4.05	$690M	$2.90	21.66
NiSource	$5.93B	3.19	$760.40M	$1.85	21.71

Is LNT or NI a better dividend stock?

Alliant Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. NiSource pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Alliant Energy pays out 70.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NiSource pays out 60.5% 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 NiSource has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Alliant Energy is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in LNT or NI?

79.9% of Alliant Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of NiSource shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Alliant 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 large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk & volatility, LNT or NI?

Alliant Energy has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NiSource has a beta of 0.54, meaning that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate LNT or NI?

Alliant Energy presently has a consensus price target of $64.23, suggesting a potential upside of 2.24%. NiSource has a consensus price target of $41.50, suggesting a potential upside of 3.35%. Given NiSource's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe NiSource is more favorable than Alliant Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alliant Energy	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.36
NiSource	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is LNT or NI more profitable?

Alliant Energy has a net margin of 18.26% compared to NiSource's net margin of 14.67%. Alliant Energy's return on equity of 12.01% beat NiSource's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alliant Energy	18.26%	12.01%	3.71%
NiSource	14.67%	8.41%	2.80%

Does the media refer more to LNT or NI?

In the previous week, Alliant Energy had 2 more articles in the media than NiSource. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Alliant Energy and 10 mentions for NiSource. NiSource's average media sentiment score of 1.61 beat Alliant Energy's score of 1.26 indicating that NiSource is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Alliant Energy	8 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
NiSource	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Summary

Alliant Energy beats NiSource on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.