NJR vs. ATO, AVA, BKH, CPK, NWE, NWN, OGE, OGS, POR, and SR
Should you be buying NewJersey Resources stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of NewJersey Resources include Atmos Energy (ATO), Avista (AVA), Black Hills (BKH), Chesapeake Utilities (CPK), NorthWestern Energy Group (NWE), Northwest Natural Gas (NWN), OGE Energy (OGE), ONE Gas (OGS), Portland General Electric (POR), and Spire (SR). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.
NewJersey Resources vs. Its Competitors
Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) and NewJersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, institutional ownership, media sentiment, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.
Atmos Energy currently has a consensus price target of $156.05, indicating a potential upside of 3.05%. NewJersey Resources has a consensus price target of $51.29, indicating a potential upside of 13.45%. Given NewJersey Resources' higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe NewJersey Resources is more favorable than Atmos Energy.
Atmos Energy has a net margin of 25.35% compared to NewJersey Resources' net margin of 20.03%. NewJersey Resources' return on equity of 16.95% beat Atmos Energy's return on equity.
90.2% of Atmos Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.0% of NewJersey Resources shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Atmos Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of NewJersey Resources shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Atmos Energy has higher revenue and earnings than NewJersey Resources. NewJersey Resources is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Atmos Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Atmos Energy has a beta of 0.7, suggesting that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NewJersey Resources has a beta of 0.61, suggesting that its share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.
In the previous week, Atmos Energy had 7 more articles in the media than NewJersey Resources. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Atmos Energy and 3 mentions for NewJersey Resources. Atmos Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.43 beat NewJersey Resources' score of 0.86 indicating that Atmos Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Atmos Energy pays an annual dividend of $3.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. NewJersey Resources pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Atmos Energy pays out 48.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NewJersey Resources pays out 43.7% 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. Atmos Energy has raised its dividend for 41 consecutive years and NewJersey Resources has raised its dividend for 29 consecutive years. NewJersey Resources is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Summary
Atmos Energy beats NewJersey Resources on 14 of the 20 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 NJR and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartMedia 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.
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This page (NYSE:NJR) was last updated on 7/8/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff