Aqua America (WTR) Competitors

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) and Aqua America (NYSE:WTR) are both utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, media sentiment, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Is AWK or WTR more profitable?

American Water Works has a net margin of 21.91% compared to Aqua America's net margin of 18.02%. American Water Works' return on equity of 10.34% beat Aqua America's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Water Works	21.91%	10.34%	3.29%
Aqua America	18.02%	8.81%	3.16%

Do analysts recommend AWK or WTR?

American Water Works presently has a consensus price target of $143.30, indicating a potential downside of 0.79%. Given American Water Works' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe American Water Works is more favorable than Aqua America.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Water Works	3 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.91
Aqua America	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in AWK or WTR?

86.6% of American Water Works shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.5% of Aqua America shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of American Water Works shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Aqua America shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, AWK or WTR?

American Water Works has higher revenue and earnings than Aqua America. American Water Works is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Aqua America, 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
American Water Works	$4.94B	5.70	$1.05B	$5.55	26.03
Aqua America	$838.09M	10.07	$191.99M	$1.41	27.72

Does the media refer more to AWK or WTR?

In the previous week, American Water Works had 26 more articles in the media than Aqua America. MarketBeat recorded 26 mentions for American Water Works and 0 mentions for Aqua America. American Water Works' average media sentiment score of 1.47 beat Aqua America's score of 0.00 indicating that American Water Works is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
American Water Works	Positive
Aqua America	Neutral

Which has more volatility and risk, AWK or WTR?

American Water Works has a beta of 0.65, meaning that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aqua America has a beta of 0.32, meaning that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AWK or WTR a better dividend stock?

American Water Works pays an annual dividend of $3.31 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Aqua America pays an annual dividend of $0.94 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. American Water Works pays out 59.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Aqua America pays out 66.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. American Water Works has raised its dividend for 18 consecutive years.

Summary

American Water Works beats Aqua America on 15 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.