WTRG vs. LNT, AWK, AWR, CMS, CWT, DUK, ED, IDA, PPL, and WEC
Should you be buying Essential Utilities stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Essential Utilities include Alliant Energy (LNT), American Water Works (AWK), American States Water (AWR), CMS Energy (CMS), California Water Service Group (CWT), Duke Energy (DUK), Consolidated Edison (ED), IDACORP (IDA), PPL (PPL), and WEC Energy Group (WEC). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.
Essential Utilities vs. Its Competitors
Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) and Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings, dividends, profitability, valuation and risk.
Alliant Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Essential Utilities pays an annual dividend of $1.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Alliant Energy pays out 70.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Essential Utilities pays out 58.3% 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. Alliant Energy has raised its dividend for 22 consecutive years and Essential Utilities has raised its dividend for 32 consecutive years. Essential Utilities is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
79.9% of Alliant Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.8% of Essential Utilities shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Alliant Energy shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Essential Utilities shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
In the previous week, Alliant Energy had 1 more articles in the media than Essential Utilities. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Alliant Energy and 11 mentions for Essential Utilities. Alliant Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.32 beat Essential Utilities' score of 1.03 indicating that Alliant Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Alliant Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Essential Utilities. Essential Utilities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alliant Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Alliant Energy presently has a consensus price target of $64.23, indicating a potential downside of 1.10%. Essential Utilities has a consensus price target of $43.50, indicating a potential upside of 17.16%. Given Essential Utilities' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Essential Utilities is more favorable than Alliant Energy.
Alliant Energy has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Essential Utilities has a beta of 0.79, indicating that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Essential Utilities has a net margin of 27.17% compared to Alliant Energy's net margin of 18.26%. Alliant Energy's return on equity of 12.01% beat Essential Utilities' return on equity.
Summary
Alliant Energy beats Essential Utilities on 10 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 WTRG 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.
Essential Utilities Competitors List
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This page (NYSE:WTRG) was last updated on 7/25/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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