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
NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) and Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, media sentiment, earnings, profitability and dividends.
NorthWestern Energy Group pays an annual dividend of $2.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. Alliant Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. NorthWestern Energy Group pays out 68.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Alliant Energy pays out 70.0% 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. NorthWestern Energy Group has increased its dividend for 21 consecutive years and Alliant Energy has increased its dividend for 22 consecutive years. NorthWestern Energy Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
In the previous week, Alliant Energy had 9 more articles in the media than NorthWestern Energy Group. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Alliant Energy and 3 mentions for NorthWestern Energy Group. Alliant Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.32 beat NorthWestern Energy Group's score of 1.25 indicating that Alliant Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
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 has a net margin of 18.26% compared to NorthWestern Energy Group's net margin of 14.81%. Alliant Energy's return on equity of 12.01% beat NorthWestern Energy Group's return on equity.
NorthWestern Energy Group has a beta of 0.35, indicating that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alliant Energy has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.
96.1% of NorthWestern Energy Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.9% of Alliant Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of NorthWestern Energy Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Alliant Energy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
NorthWestern Energy Group currently has a consensus price target of $60.00, suggesting a potential upside of 14.44%. Alliant Energy has a consensus price target of $64.23, suggesting a potential downside of 0.91%. Given NorthWestern Energy Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe NorthWestern Energy Group is more favorable than Alliant Energy.
Summary
Alliant Energy beats NorthWestern Energy Group on 12 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.
Media 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.
NorthWestern Energy Group Competitors List
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This page (NYSE:NWE) was last updated on 7/25/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
