NWE vs. LNT, AEE, ATO, AVA, BKH, IDA, NJR, OGE, POR, and SR
Should you be buying NorthWestern Energy Group stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of NorthWestern Energy Group include Alliant Energy (LNT), Ameren (AEE), Atmos Energy (ATO), Avista (AVA), Black Hills (BKH), IDACORP (IDA), NewJersey Resources (NJR), OGE Energy (OGE), Portland General Electric (POR), and Spire (SR). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.
NorthWestern Energy Group vs. Its Competitors
Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) and NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, media sentiment, earnings and risk.
79.9% of Alliant Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.1% of NorthWestern Energy Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Alliant Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of NorthWestern Energy Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Alliant Energy has a net margin of 20.07% compared to NorthWestern Energy Group's net margin of 14.81%. Alliant Energy's return on equity of 12.25% beat NorthWestern Energy Group's return on equity.
Alliant Energy has higher revenue and earnings than NorthWestern Energy Group. NorthWestern Energy Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alliant Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Alliant Energy currently has a consensus target price of $65.50, suggesting a potential upside of 0.10%. NorthWestern Energy Group has a consensus target price of $59.17, suggesting a potential upside of 2.55%. Given NorthWestern Energy Group's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe NorthWestern Energy Group is more favorable than Alliant Energy.
Alliant Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. NorthWestern Energy Group pays an annual dividend of $2.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Alliant Energy pays out 62.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NorthWestern Energy Group pays out 71.9% 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 NorthWestern Energy Group has raised its dividend for 21 consecutive years.
Alliant Energy has a beta of 0.54, meaning that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NorthWestern Energy Group has a beta of 0.4, meaning that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.
In the previous week, Alliant Energy had 9 more articles in the media than NorthWestern Energy Group. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Alliant Energy and 4 mentions for NorthWestern Energy Group. Alliant Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.44 beat NorthWestern Energy Group's score of 1.41 indicating that Alliant Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Summary
Alliant Energy beats NorthWestern Energy Group on 13 of the 19 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 NWE 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:NWE) was last updated on 9/25/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff