NWN vs. SWX, NJR, CPK, OKE, ATO, UGI, NFG, OGS, SR, and UGP
Should you be buying Northwest Natural Gas stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Northwest Natural Gas 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 Gas vs. Its Competitors
Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) and Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) are both utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, earnings, dividends and media sentiment.
Northwest Natural Gas pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. Southwest Gas pays an annual dividend of $2.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Northwest Natural Gas 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. 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 Gas has increased its dividend for 70 consecutive years. Northwest Natural Gas is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
75.1% of Northwest Natural Gas shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.8% of Southwest Gas shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Northwest Natural Gas shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Southwest Gas shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Northwest Natural Gas has a net margin of 8.48% compared to Southwest Gas' net margin of 4.66%. Northwest Natural Gas' return on equity of 8.56% beat Southwest Gas' return on equity.
Northwest Natural Gas currently has a consensus target price of $46.33, indicating a potential upside of 16.74%. Southwest Gas has a consensus target price of $75.00, indicating a potential upside of 1.41%. Given Northwest Natural Gas' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Northwest Natural Gas is more favorable than Southwest Gas.
Northwest Natural Gas has a beta of 0.54, suggesting that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southwest Gas has a beta of 0.47, suggesting that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Southwest Gas received 6 more outperform votes than Northwest Natural Gas when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 52.08% of users gave Northwest Natural Gas 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 Gas. Northwest Natural Gas is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southwest Gas, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
In the previous week, Southwest Gas had 8 more articles in the media than Northwest Natural Gas. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Southwest Gas and 4 mentions for Northwest Natural Gas. Northwest Natural Gas' average media sentiment score of 1.32 beat Southwest Gas' score of 0.59 indicating that Northwest Natural Gas is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Summary
Northwest Natural Gas beats Southwest Gas on 14 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.
Get Northwest Natural Gas News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for NWN and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding NWN 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 Gas Competitors List
Related Companies and Tools
This page (NYSE:NWN) was last updated on 6/19/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
Buy NWN Stock Free NWN Stock Alerts