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Unitil (UTL) Competitors

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$52.20 +1.44 (+2.83%)
As of 02:41 PM Eastern
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UTL vs. AVA, BKH, CPK, NJR, NWE, NWN, OGE, OGS, POR, and SR

Should you be buying Unitil stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Unitil include Avista (AVA), Black Hills (BKH), Chesapeake Utilities (CPK), NewJersey Resources (NJR), NorthWestern Energy Group (NWE), Northwest Natural Gas (NWN), OGE Energy (OGE), ONE Gas (OGS), Portland General Electric (POR), and Spire (SR). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.

Unitil vs. Its Competitors

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

Unitil pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Avista pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. Unitil pays out 61.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. 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 has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years and Avista has raised its dividend for 23 consecutive years. Avista is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

In the previous week, Avista had 4 more articles in the media than Unitil. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Avista and 6 mentions for Unitil. Avista's average media sentiment score of 1.19 beat Unitil's score of 0.40 indicating that Avista is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

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

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.

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
Unitil$486.90M1.74$47.10M$2.9317.81
Avista$1.94B1.55$180M$2.3415.98

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
Unitil9.74% 9.49% 2.74%
Avista 9.63%7.28%2.39%

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

76.8% of Unitil shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.2% of Avista shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of Unitil shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Avista shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Unitil presently has a consensus price target of $55.00, suggesting a potential upside of 5.37%. Avista has a consensus price target of $38.00, suggesting a potential upside of 1.63%. Given Unitil's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Unitil is more favorable than Avista.

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

Summary

Unitil beats Avista on 11 of the 18 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 UTL and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
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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.
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UTL vs. The Competition

MetricUnitilUTIL IndustryUtilities SectorNYSE Exchange
Market Cap$849M$25.12B$16.02B$20.89B
Dividend Yield3.47%3.72%5.40%3.60%
P/E Ratio17.8235.3220.3628.01
Price / Sales1.744.21194.2268.85
Price / Cash6.628.8519.0123.29
Price / Book1.652.302.164.56
Net Income$47.10M$1.43B$751.46M$993.24M
7 Day Performance-0.41%-0.41%-0.84%-1.58%
1 Month Performance0.41%1.74%20.61%3.09%
1 Year Performance-14.77%19.18%139.20%9.26%

Unitil Competitors List

CompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)
UTL
Unitil
2.4268 of 5 stars
$52.20
+2.8%
$55.00
+5.4%
-14.7%$849M$486.90M17.82520News Coverage
Upcoming Earnings
Dividend Announcement
AVA
Avista
3.6485 of 5 stars
$36.89
-0.8%
$38.00
+3.0%
-4.7%$2.99B$1.94B15.771,950Positive News
Upcoming Earnings
BKH
Black Hills
4.511 of 5 stars
$55.95
-1.3%
$66.00
+18.0%
-3.0%$4.11B$2.13B14.272,841Positive News
CPK
Chesapeake Utilities
3.853 of 5 stars
$121.22
-0.3%
$124.50
+2.7%
+2.4%$2.84B$787.20M22.411,200
NJR
NewJersey Resources
3.2581 of 5 stars
$45.44
-1.1%
$51.29
+12.9%
-2.3%$4.61B$1.80B11.031,372Positive News
Upcoming Earnings
NWE
NorthWestern Energy Group
3.3381 of 5 stars
$52.11
-1.0%
$60.00
+15.1%
-0.6%$3.20B$1.51B14.281,573Positive News
NWN
Northwest Natural Gas
4.2733 of 5 stars
$40.55
-0.8%
$46.33
+14.3%
+0.1%$1.65B$1.15B16.091,452Positive News
Upcoming Earnings
OGE
OGE Energy
3.8599 of 5 stars
$44.25
-1.4%
$46.80
+5.8%
+17.1%$9.03B$3.14B18.292,291News Coverage
Earnings Report
OGS
ONE Gas
2.8002 of 5 stars
$72.20
-1.0%
$77.64
+7.5%
+3.8%$4.37B$2.08B17.443,900Upcoming Earnings
POR
Portland General Electric
2.4031 of 5 stars
$40.95
-1.1%
$45.40
+10.9%
-11.8%$4.53B$3.44B15.112,915Earnings Report
SR
Spire
3.6665 of 5 stars
$75.77
-0.8%
$78.60
+3.7%
+8.3%$4.51B$2.59B18.663,475News Coverage
Positive News
Upcoming Earnings

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This page (NYSE:UTL) was last updated on 7/30/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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