Essential Utilities (WTRG) Competitors

Vistra (NYSE:VST) and Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, media sentiment, earnings, community ranking, valuation, risk and analyst recommendations.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in VST or WTRG?

90.9% of Vistra shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.8% of Essential Utilities shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of Vistra shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Essential Utilities shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, VST or WTRG?

Vistra has higher revenue and earnings than Essential Utilities. Essential Utilities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Vistra, 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
Vistra	$17.22B	2.78	$1.49B	$7.05	19.95
Essential Utilities	$2.09B	5.32	$498.23M	$2.17	18.55

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in VST or WTRG?

Vistra received 277 more outperform votes than Essential Utilities when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 67.32% of users gave Vistra an outperform vote while only 35.96% of users gave Essential Utilities an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Vistra	Outperform Votes 309 67.32%	Underperform Votes 150 32.68%
Essential Utilities	Outperform Votes 32 35.96%	Underperform Votes 57 64.04%

Does the media prefer VST or WTRG?

In the previous week, Vistra had 18 more articles in the media than Essential Utilities. MarketBeat recorded 42 mentions for Vistra and 24 mentions for Essential Utilities. Vistra's average media sentiment score of 1.22 beat Essential Utilities' score of 0.96 indicating that Vistra is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Vistra	25 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Essential Utilities	16 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is VST or WTRG a better dividend stock?

Vistra pays an annual dividend of $0.89 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Essential Utilities pays an annual dividend of $1.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Vistra pays out 12.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Essential Utilities pays out 59.9% 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. Essential Utilities has increased 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.

Is VST or WTRG more profitable?

Essential Utilities has a net margin of 27.84% compared to Vistra's net margin of 12.51%. Vistra's return on equity of 57.63% beat Essential Utilities' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vistra	12.51%	57.63%	6.02%
Essential Utilities	27.84%	7.89%	2.79%

Do analysts recommend VST or WTRG?

Vistra currently has a consensus price target of $166.17, suggesting a potential upside of 18.17%. Essential Utilities has a consensus price target of $43.50, suggesting a potential upside of 8.09%. Given Vistra's higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Vistra is more favorable than Essential Utilities.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vistra	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.77
Essential Utilities	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83

Which has more volatility & risk, VST or WTRG?

Vistra has a beta of 1.21, suggesting that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Essential Utilities has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Vistra beats Essential Utilities on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.