NWN vs. SWX, NJR, CPK, OKE, ATO, UGI, NFG, OGS, SR, and UGP
Should you be buying Northwest Natural stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Northwest Natural include Southwest Gas (SWX), New Jersey Resources (NJR), Chesapeake Utilities (CPK), ONEOK (OKE), Atmos Energy (ATO), UGI (UGI), National Fuel Gas (NFG), ONE Gas (OGS), Spire (SR), and Ultrapar Participações (UGP).
Northwest Natural vs.
Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) and Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) are both utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, dividends, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, community ranking, analyst recommendations and earnings.
Southwest Gas pays an annual dividend of $2.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Northwest Natural pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Southwest Gas pays out 79.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Northwest Natural pays out 77.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Northwest Natural has raised its dividend for 70 consecutive years. Northwest Natural is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Southwest Gas has a beta of 0.48, indicating that its share price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Northwest Natural has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.
92.8% of Southwest Gas shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.1% of Northwest Natural shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Southwest Gas shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Northwest Natural shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
In the previous week, Southwest Gas had 12 more articles in the media than Northwest Natural. MarketBeat recorded 20 mentions for Southwest Gas and 8 mentions for Northwest Natural. Northwest Natural's average media sentiment score of 1.19 beat Southwest Gas' score of 0.89 indicating that Northwest Natural is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Southwest Gas received 6 more outperform votes than Northwest Natural when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 51.98% of users gave Northwest Natural an outperform vote while only 51.09% of users gave Southwest Gas an outperform vote.
Southwest Gas has higher revenue and earnings than Northwest Natural. Northwest Natural is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southwest Gas, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Southwest Gas presently has a consensus target price of $75.00, suggesting a potential upside of 4.72%. Northwest Natural has a consensus target price of $44.67, suggesting a potential upside of 9.16%. Given Northwest Natural's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Northwest Natural is more favorable than Southwest Gas.
Northwest Natural has a net margin of 6.90% compared to Southwest Gas' net margin of 3.44%. Southwest Gas' return on equity of 5.99% beat Northwest Natural's return on equity.
Summary
Northwest Natural beats Southwest Gas on 12 of the 22 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 {thisCompany.Symbol} 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.
Northwest Natural Competitors List
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This page (NYSE:NWN) was last updated on 5/29/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
