NWN vs. ATO, AVA, BKH, CPK, NJR, NWE, OGE, OGS, POR, and SR
Should you be buying Northwest Natural Gas stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Northwest Natural Gas include Atmos Energy (ATO), Avista (AVA), Black Hills (BKH), Chesapeake Utilities (CPK), NewJersey Resources (NJR), NorthWestern Energy Group (NWE), OGE Energy (OGE), ONE Gas (OGS), Portland General Electric (POR), and Spire (SR). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.
Northwest Natural Gas vs. Its Competitors
Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN) and Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) are both utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, media sentiment, profitability, earnings, valuation, dividends and analyst recommendations.
Northwest Natural Gas has a beta of 0.53, meaning that its share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atmos Energy has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.
75.1% of Northwest Natural Gas shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.2% of Atmos Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Northwest Natural Gas shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Atmos Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Atmos Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Northwest Natural Gas. Northwest Natural Gas is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Atmos Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
In the previous week, Atmos Energy had 7 more articles in the media than Northwest Natural Gas. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Atmos Energy and 3 mentions for Northwest Natural Gas. Atmos Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.36 beat Northwest Natural Gas' score of 0.99 indicating that Atmos Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Northwest Natural Gas currently has a consensus price target of $46.33, indicating a potential upside of 12.87%. Atmos Energy has a consensus price target of $156.05, indicating a potential upside of 2.64%. Given Northwest Natural Gas' higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Northwest Natural Gas is more favorable than Atmos Energy.
Atmos Energy has a net margin of 25.35% compared to Northwest Natural Gas' net margin of 8.48%. Atmos Energy's return on equity of 9.05% beat Northwest Natural Gas' return on equity.
Northwest Natural Gas pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Atmos Energy pays an annual dividend of $3.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. 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. Atmos Energy pays out 48.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Northwest Natural Gas has increased its dividend for 70 consecutive years and Atmos Energy has increased its dividend for 41 consecutive years. Northwest Natural Gas is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Summary
Atmos Energy beats Northwest Natural Gas on 16 of the 20 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.
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.
Skip Chart
Northwest Natural Gas Competitors List
Related Companies and Tools
This page (NYSE:NWN) was last updated on 7/8/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff