Unitil (UTL) Competitors

Avista (NYSE:AVA) and Unitil (NYSE:UTL) are both utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, media sentiment, risk, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Is AVA or UTL more profitable?

Unitil has a net margin of 9.74% compared to Avista's net margin of 9.63%. Unitil's return on equity of 9.49% beat Avista's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Avista	9.63%	7.28%	2.39%
Unitil	9.74%	9.49%	2.74%

Do analysts recommend AVA or UTL?

Avista currently has a consensus target price of $38.00, suggesting a potential downside of 0.25%. Unitil has a consensus target price of $55.00, suggesting a potential upside of 5.59%. Given Unitil's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Unitil is more favorable than Avista.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Avista	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.50
Unitil	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Does the media refer more to AVA or UTL?

In the previous week, Avista had 1 more articles in the media than Unitil. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for Avista and 1 mentions for Unitil. Avista's average media sentiment score of 1.08 beat Unitil's score of 1.00 indicating that Avista is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Avista	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Unitil	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better valuation and earnings, AVA or UTL?

Avista has higher revenue and earnings than Unitil. Avista is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Unitil, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Avista	$1.94B	1.58	$180M	$2.34	16.28
Unitil	$494.80M	1.71	$47.10M	$2.93	17.78

Is AVA or UTL a better dividend stock?

Avista pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. Unitil pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Avista pays out 83.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Unitil pays out 61.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Avista has raised its dividend for 23 consecutive years and Unitil has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Avista is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more volatility & risk, AVA or UTL?

Avista has a beta of 0.4, meaning that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unitil has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in AVA or UTL?

85.2% of Avista shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.8% of Unitil shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Avista shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of Unitil shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Unitil beats Avista on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.