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Essential Utilities (WTRG) Competitors

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$37.13 -0.04 (-0.11%)
As of 01:07 PM Eastern
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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.

Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment
Alliant Energy
9 Very Positive mention(s)
2 Positive mention(s)
0 Neutral mention(s)
0 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive
Essential Utilities
7 Very Positive mention(s)
1 Positive mention(s)
2 Neutral mention(s)
1 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive

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.

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
Alliant Energy$3.98B4.19$690M$2.9022.39
Essential Utilities$2.09B4.99$595.31M$2.2316.65

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.

Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score
Alliant Energy
1 Sell rating(s)
5 Hold rating(s)
5 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.36
Essential Utilities
0 Sell rating(s)
1 Hold rating(s)
5 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.83

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.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
Alliant Energy18.26% 12.01% 3.71%
Essential Utilities 27.17%9.81%3.45%

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.
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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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WTRG vs. The Competition

MetricEssential UtilitiesUTIL IndustryUtilities SectorNYSE Exchange
Market Cap$10.41B$7.11B$16.07B$21.05B
Dividend Yield3.45%2.68%5.28%3.58%
P/E Ratio16.6517.9720.2827.79
Price / Sales4.994.36204.6759.58
Price / Cash11.3712.8419.1123.00
Price / Book1.652.262.174.68
Net Income$595.31M$420.94M$751.46M$994.49M
7 Day Performance-0.77%-0.36%0.82%1.38%
1 Month Performance0.11%-1.13%26.09%5.63%
1 Year Performance-8.64%-6.24%204.13%11.26%

Essential Utilities Competitors List

CompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)
WTRG
Essential Utilities
4.838 of 5 stars
$37.13
-0.1%
$43.50
+17.2%
-9.5%$10.41B$2.09B16.653,291News Coverage
Positive News
Upcoming Earnings
LNT
Alliant Energy
4.1437 of 5 stars
$62.59
+0.8%
$64.23
+2.6%
+17.2%$16.08B$3.98B21.582,998Positive News
Dividend Announcement
AWK
American Water Works
4.1029 of 5 stars
$143.36
+0.8%
$141.67
-1.2%
-1.3%$27.96B$4.68B26.116,700Positive News
Upcoming Earnings
AWR
American States Water
3.8253 of 5 stars
$76.71
+1.4%
$77.50
+1.0%
-8.6%$2.95B$608.22M23.60810
CMS
CMS Energy
3.9797 of 5 stars
$70.59
+0.3%
$77.00
+9.1%
+16.8%$21.11B$7.79B20.958,324Positive News
Upcoming Earnings
Dividend Announcement
Analyst Forecast
CWT
California Water Service Group
4.9526 of 5 stars
$46.70
+1.7%
$58.00
+24.2%
-13.8%$2.78B$970.03M20.481,278News Coverage
Upcoming Earnings
DUK
Duke Energy
4.3471 of 5 stars
$117.96
+0.4%
$126.88
+7.6%
+10.3%$91.69B$30.36B19.5626,413Trending News
Analyst Revision
ED
Consolidated Edison
4.6211 of 5 stars
$101.01
+0.4%
$105.27
+4.2%
+6.5%$36.39B$15.77B18.6715,097Positive News
IDA
IDACORP
3.9575 of 5 stars
$118.27
+0.6%
$122.86
+3.9%
+27.4%$6.39B$1.81B21.012,141Upcoming Earnings
PPL
PPL
2.7358 of 5 stars
$34.76
+1.4%
$36.70
+5.6%
+25.5%$25.69B$8.46B25.746,653Upcoming Earnings
WEC
WEC Energy Group
4.5489 of 5 stars
$105.84
+0.3%
$106.40
+0.5%
+31.2%$33.78B$8.60B20.637,017Positive News
Upcoming Earnings

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This page (NYSE:WTRG) was last updated on 7/25/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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