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
Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) and Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, media sentiment, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership and dividends.
74.8% of Essential Utilities shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.9% of Alliant Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Essential Utilities shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Alliant Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Essential Utilities has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alliant Energy has a beta of 0.53, meaning that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Essential Utilities currently has a consensus target price of $43.67, indicating a potential upside of 11.78%. Alliant Energy has a consensus target price of $65.50, indicating a potential upside of 1.21%. Given Essential Utilities' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Essential Utilities is more favorable than Alliant Energy.
Essential Utilities pays an annual dividend of $1.37 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Alliant Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Essential Utilities pays out 58.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Alliant Energy pays out 62.7% 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. Essential Utilities has increased its dividend for 32 consecutive years and Alliant Energy has increased its dividend for 22 consecutive years. Essential Utilities is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
In the previous week, Alliant Energy had 15 more articles in the media than Essential Utilities. MarketBeat recorded 22 mentions for Alliant Energy and 7 mentions for Essential Utilities. Essential Utilities' average media sentiment score of 1.71 beat Alliant Energy's score of 1.31 indicating that Essential Utilities is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Essential Utilities has a net margin of 27.62% compared to Alliant Energy's net margin of 20.07%. Alliant Energy's return on equity of 12.25% beat Essential Utilities' return on equity.
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.
Summary
Essential Utilities beats Alliant Energy on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
Get Essential Utilities News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for WTRG and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
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
Related Companies and Tools
This page (NYSE:WTRG) was last updated on 8/14/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
MarketBeat All Access