Essential Utilities (WTRG) Competitors

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$36.64 -0.06 (-0.17%)
Closing price 06/18/2026 03:59 PM Eastern
Extended Trading
$36.67 +0.04 (+0.11%)
As of 06/18/2026 07:46 PM Eastern
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WTRG vs. LNT, MSEX, AWK, AWR, and CMS

Should you buy Essential Utilities stock or one of its competitors? MarketBeat compares Essential Utilities with other companies and stocks that may be similar based on industry, sector, market capitalization, business model, investor interest, or shared news coverage. Companies and stocks commonly compared with Essential Utilities include Alliant Energy (LNT), Middlesex Water (MSEX), American Water Works (AWK), American States Water (AWR), and CMS Energy (CMS). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.

How does Essential Utilities compare to Alliant Energy?

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 risk, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, media sentiment, profitability and earnings.

Essential Utilities currently has a consensus price target of $42.80, suggesting a potential upside of 16.82%. Alliant Energy has a consensus price target of $76.60, suggesting a potential upside of 4.97%. Given Essential Utilities' higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Essential Utilities is more favorable than Alliant Energy.

Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score
Essential Utilities
1 Sell rating(s)
4 Hold rating(s)
2 Buy rating(s)
2 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.56
Alliant Energy
0 Sell rating(s)
4 Hold rating(s)
9 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.69

Essential Utilities has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its share price is 34% less volatile than the broader market. Comparatively, Alliant Energy has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its share price is 44% less volatile than the broader market.

74.8% of Essential Utilities shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.9% of Alliant Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Essential Utilities shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Alliant Energy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

In the previous week, Alliant Energy had 3 more articles in the media than Essential Utilities. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Alliant Energy and 0 mentions for Essential Utilities. Alliant Energy's average media sentiment score of 0.92 beat Essential Utilities' score of 0.00 indicating that Alliant Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company Overall Sentiment
Essential Utilities Neutral
Alliant Energy 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
Essential Utilities$2.47B4.20$616.37M$1.9718.60
Alliant Energy$4.36B4.32$810M$3.1922.87

Essential Utilities has a net margin of 21.82% compared to Alliant Energy's net margin of 18.58%. Alliant Energy's return on equity of 11.37% beat Essential Utilities' return on equity.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
Essential Utilities21.82% 8.34% 2.97%
Alliant Energy 18.58%11.37%3.38%

Essential Utilities pays an annual dividend of $1.37 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Alliant Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Essential Utilities pays out 69.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Alliant Energy pays out 67.1% 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.

Summary

Alliant Energy beats Essential Utilities on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.

How does Essential Utilities compare to Middlesex Water?

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) and Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, risk and media sentiment.

Essential Utilities has higher revenue and earnings than Middlesex Water. Essential Utilities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Middlesex Water, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
Essential Utilities$2.47B4.20$616.37M$1.9718.60
Middlesex Water$194.69M4.98$42.82M$2.4021.69

Essential Utilities pays an annual dividend of $1.37 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Middlesex Water pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Essential Utilities pays out 69.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Middlesex Water pays out 60.0% 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 raised its dividend for 32 consecutive years and Middlesex Water has raised its dividend for 52 consecutive years.

In the previous week, Essential Utilities' average media sentiment score of 0.00 equaled Middlesex Water'saverage media sentiment score.

Company Overall Sentiment
Essential Utilities Neutral
Middlesex Water Neutral

Middlesex Water has a net margin of 22.07% compared to Essential Utilities' net margin of 21.82%. Middlesex Water's return on equity of 9.08% beat Essential Utilities' return on equity.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
Essential Utilities21.82% 8.34% 2.97%
Middlesex Water 22.07%9.08%3.25%

74.8% of Essential Utilities shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.5% of Middlesex Water shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Essential Utilities shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Middlesex Water shares are owned by 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.

Essential Utilities presently has a consensus target price of $42.80, suggesting a potential upside of 16.82%. Middlesex Water has a consensus target price of $56.67, suggesting a potential upside of 8.85%. Given Essential Utilities' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Essential Utilities is more favorable than Middlesex Water.

Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score
Essential Utilities
1 Sell rating(s)
4 Hold rating(s)
2 Buy rating(s)
2 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.56
Middlesex Water
0 Sell rating(s)
1 Hold rating(s)
1 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.50

Essential Utilities has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its share price is 34% less volatile than the broader market. Comparatively, Middlesex Water has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its share price is 21% less volatile than the broader market.

Summary

Middlesex Water beats Essential Utilities on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

How does Essential Utilities compare to American Water Works?

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) and American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

In the previous week, American Water Works had 14 more articles in the media than Essential Utilities. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for American Water Works and 0 mentions for Essential Utilities. American Water Works' average media sentiment score of 0.65 beat Essential Utilities' score of 0.00 indicating that American Water Works is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company Overall Sentiment
Essential Utilities Neutral
American Water Works Positive

Essential Utilities currently has a consensus target price of $42.80, suggesting a potential upside of 16.82%. American Water Works has a consensus target price of $138.11, suggesting a potential upside of 10.27%. Given Essential Utilities' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Essential Utilities is more favorable than American Water Works.

Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score
Essential Utilities
1 Sell rating(s)
4 Hold rating(s)
2 Buy rating(s)
2 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.56
American Water Works
1 Sell rating(s)
7 Hold rating(s)
2 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.10

American Water Works has higher revenue and earnings than Essential Utilities. Essential Utilities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Water Works, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
Essential Utilities$2.47B4.20$616.37M$1.9718.60
American Water Works$5.14B4.76$1.11B$5.6422.21

74.8% of Essential Utilities shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.6% of American Water Works shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Essential Utilities shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of American Water Works shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Essential Utilities has a net margin of 21.82% compared to American Water Works' net margin of 21.17%. American Water Works' return on equity of 10.20% beat Essential Utilities' return on equity.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
Essential Utilities21.82% 8.34% 2.97%
American Water Works 21.17%10.20%3.18%

Essential Utilities has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its share price is 34% less volatile than the broader market. Comparatively, American Water Works has a beta of 0.62, meaning that its share price is 38% less volatile than the broader market.

Essential Utilities pays an annual dividend of $1.37 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. American Water Works pays an annual dividend of $3.58 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Essential Utilities pays out 69.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. American Water Works pays out 63.5% 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 American Water Works has increased its dividend for 18 consecutive years. Essential Utilities is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

American Water Works beats Essential Utilities on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.

How does Essential Utilities compare to American States Water?

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) and American States Water (NYSE:AWR) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, media sentiment, valuation and earnings.

Essential Utilities has higher revenue and earnings than American States Water. Essential Utilities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American States Water, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
Essential Utilities$2.47B4.20$616.37M$1.9718.60
American States Water$658.07M4.59$130.44M$3.4322.45

Essential Utilities pays an annual dividend of $1.37 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. American States Water pays an annual dividend of $2.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Essential Utilities pays out 69.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. American States Water pays out 58.9% 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 raised its dividend for 32 consecutive years and American States Water has raised its dividend for 71 consecutive years.

Essential Utilities has a net margin of 21.82% compared to American States Water's net margin of 19.66%. American States Water's return on equity of 13.06% beat Essential Utilities' return on equity.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
Essential Utilities21.82% 8.34% 2.97%
American States Water 19.66%13.06%4.99%

74.8% of Essential Utilities shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.2% of American States Water shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Essential Utilities shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of American States Water shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Essential Utilities presently has a consensus price target of $42.80, suggesting a potential upside of 16.82%. Given Essential Utilities' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Essential Utilities is more favorable than American States Water.

Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score
Essential Utilities
1 Sell rating(s)
4 Hold rating(s)
2 Buy rating(s)
2 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.56
American States Water
0 Sell rating(s)
2 Hold rating(s)
0 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.00

Essential Utilities has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its share price is 34% less volatile than the broader market. Comparatively, American States Water has a beta of 0.6, meaning that its share price is 40% less volatile than the broader market.

In the previous week, American States Water had 2 more articles in the media than Essential Utilities. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for American States Water and 0 mentions for Essential Utilities. American States Water's average media sentiment score of 0.85 beat Essential Utilities' score of 0.00 indicating that American States Water is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company Overall Sentiment
Essential Utilities Neutral
American States Water Positive

Summary

American States Water beats Essential Utilities on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.

How does Essential Utilities compare to CMS Energy?

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

74.8% of Essential Utilities shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.6% of CMS Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Essential Utilities shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of CMS Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

In the previous week, CMS Energy had 7 more articles in the media than Essential Utilities. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for CMS Energy and 0 mentions for Essential Utilities. CMS Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.36 beat Essential Utilities' score of 0.00 indicating that CMS Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company Overall Sentiment
Essential Utilities Neutral
CMS Energy Positive

Essential Utilities pays an annual dividend of $1.37 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. CMS Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Essential Utilities pays out 69.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CMS Energy pays out 63.0% 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 CMS Energy has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Essential Utilities is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

CMS Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Essential Utilities. Essential Utilities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CMS Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
Essential Utilities$2.47B4.20$616.37M$1.9718.60
CMS Energy$8.54B2.66$1.07B$3.6220.28

Essential Utilities has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the broader market. Comparatively, CMS Energy has a beta of 0.35, meaning that its stock price is 65% less volatile than the broader market.

Essential Utilities currently has a consensus target price of $42.80, suggesting a potential upside of 16.82%. CMS Energy has a consensus target price of $80.17, suggesting a potential upside of 9.22%. Given Essential Utilities' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Essential Utilities is more favorable than CMS Energy.

Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score
Essential Utilities
1 Sell rating(s)
4 Hold rating(s)
2 Buy rating(s)
2 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.56
CMS Energy
0 Sell rating(s)
6 Hold rating(s)
7 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.54

Essential Utilities has a net margin of 21.82% compared to CMS Energy's net margin of 12.55%. CMS Energy's return on equity of 12.17% beat Essential Utilities' return on equity.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
Essential Utilities21.82% 8.34% 2.97%
CMS Energy 12.55%12.17%2.91%

Summary

CMS Energy beats Essential Utilities on 11 of the 20 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$7.70B$18.63B$23.21B
Dividend Yield3.73%2.99%3.98%4.06%
P/E Ratio18.6023.7920.1131.61
Price / Sales4.204.2627.91112.15
Price / Cash10.0512.3319.2624.44
Price / Book1.511.992.454.68
Net Income$616.37M$416.55M$785.96M$1.08B
7 Day Performance-2.35%-0.87%-0.12%-0.82%
1 Month Performance0.19%1.45%-0.93%1.61%
1 Year Performance-1.85%-10.46%15.68%24.87%

Essential Utilities Competitors List

CompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)
WTRG
Essential Utilities
4.1856 of 5 stars
$36.64
-0.2%
$42.80
+16.8%
-1.9%$10.41B$2.47B18.603,303
LNT
Alliant Energy
3.1383 of 5 stars
$73.11
+0.7%
$76.60
+4.8%
+21.6%$18.76B$4.36B22.922,948
MSEX
Middlesex Water
2.2819 of 5 stars
$52.94
+0.9%
$56.67
+7.0%
-7.3%$977.03M$194.69M22.06350
AWK
American Water Works
3.6496 of 5 stars
$126.25
+1.4%
$138.11
+9.4%
-11.1%$24.30B$5.14B22.387,000
AWR
American States Water
3.5237 of 5 stars
$77.71
+1.1%
N/A-1.1%$3.01B$658.07M22.66810

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This page (NYSE:WTRG) was last updated on 6/20/2026 by MarketBeat.com Staff.
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