Free Trial

United Utilities Group (UU) Competitors

United Utilities Group logo
GBX 1,140 +12.50 (+1.11%)
As of 08/1/2025

UU vs. SVT, PNN, SSE, CNA, UKW, DRX, GLO, TEP, GRP, and MAST

Should you be buying United Utilities Group stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of United Utilities Group include Severn Trent (SVT), Pennon Group (PNN), SSE (SSE), Centrica (CNA), Greencoat UK Wind (UKW), Drax Group (DRX), ContourGlobal (GLO), Telecom Plus (TEP), Greencoat Renewables (GRP), and MAST Energy Developments (MAST). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.

United Utilities Group vs. Its Competitors

United Utilities Group (LON:UU) and Severn Trent (LON:SVT) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, media sentiment, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends and analyst recommendations.

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

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
United Utilities Group£1.96B3.99£127.46M£18.5361.53
Severn Trent£2.97B2.67£177.90M£59.9144.32

United Utilities Group has a net margin of 6.51% compared to Severn Trent's net margin of 6.00%. Severn Trent's return on equity of 10.40% beat United Utilities Group's return on equity.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
United Utilities Group6.51% 6.35% 2.02%
Severn Trent 6.00%10.40%2.35%

United Utilities Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 50 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Severn Trent pays an annual dividend of GBX 117 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. United Utilities Group pays out 269.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Severn Trent pays out 195.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Severn Trent is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

In the previous week, Severn Trent had 7 more articles in the media than United Utilities Group. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Severn Trent and 1 mentions for United Utilities Group. United Utilities Group's average media sentiment score of 1.22 beat Severn Trent's score of 0.21 indicating that United Utilities Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment
United Utilities Group
1 Very Positive mention(s)
0 Positive mention(s)
0 Neutral mention(s)
0 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive
Severn Trent
4 Very Positive mention(s)
0 Positive mention(s)
2 Neutral mention(s)
0 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Neutral

Severn Trent has a consensus target price of GBX 2,600, suggesting a potential downside of 2.07%. Given Severn Trent's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Severn Trent is more favorable than United Utilities Group.

Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score
United Utilities Group
0 Sell rating(s)
0 Hold rating(s)
0 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
0.00
Severn Trent
0 Sell rating(s)
1 Hold rating(s)
1 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.50

United Utilities Group has a beta of 0.41, suggesting that its share price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Severn Trent has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

65.3% of United Utilities Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.4% of Severn Trent shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of United Utilities Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Severn Trent shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Severn Trent beats United Utilities Group on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

Get United Utilities Group News Delivered to You Automatically

Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for UU and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.

New MarketBeat Followers Over Time

This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding UU and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip Chart

Media Sentiment Over Time

This chart shows the average media sentiment of LON 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.
Skip Chart

UU vs. The Competition

MetricUnited Utilities GroupUtilities IndustryUtilities SectorLON Exchange
Market Cap£7.81B£3.34B£16.00B£3.03B
Dividend Yield5.11%5.23%5.46%5.02%
P/E Ratio61.5319.8719.95176.75
Price / Sales3.99163.85201.67264,362.45
Price / Cash13.2514.0719.0327.97
Price / Book4.012.712.144.53
Net Income£127.46M£76.43M£751.46M£5.90B
7 Day Performance1.79%0.21%-0.96%12.58%
1 Month Performance-1.77%0.03%20.30%6.10%
1 Year Performance10.36%5.77%182.92%71.60%

United Utilities Group Competitors List

CompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)
UU
United Utilities Group
2.9736 of 5 stars
GBX 1,140
+1.1%
N/A+9.1%£7.81B£1.96B61.536,000Positive News
High Trading Volume
SVT
Severn Trent
1.5533 of 5 stars
GBX 2,643
-1.0%
GBX 2,600
-1.6%
+2.6%£7.89B£2.97B44.11270
PNN
Pennon Group
1.5901 of 5 stars
GBX 494.60
-1.1%
GBX 497
+0.5%
-20.8%£2.29B£1.55B-139.063,000Positive News
Dividend Cut
SSE
SSE
N/AGBX 1,839
-0.8%
N/A-1.6%£20.15B£10.47B11.7512,180News Coverage
Dividend Cut
CNA
Centrica
2.4674 of 5 stars
GBX 160.39
-1.5%
GBX 150
-6.5%
+26.7%£8.01B£19.40B7.646,100Analyst Forecast
UKW
Greencoat UK Wind
N/AGBX 125.10
-1.0%
N/A-19.7%£2.82B£266.34M36.28N/AEarnings Report
DRX
Drax Group
3.3698 of 5 stars
GBX 682
+0.5%
GBX 810.67
+18.9%
+6.5%£2.50B£6.60B4.053,551News Coverage
Earnings Report
GLO
ContourGlobal
N/AN/AN/AN/A£1.65B£2.57B1,091.301,518High Trading Volume
TEP
Telecom Plus
3.1674 of 5 stars
GBX 1,882
-2.5%
GBX 2,600
+38.2%
+1.4%£1.50B£2.03B21.202,347
GRP
Greencoat Renewables
N/AGBX 0.80
-0.3%
N/A-14.7%£888.61M£13.86B15.46N/ANews Coverage
MAST
MAST Energy Developments
N/AGBX 80.18
-3.5%
N/A+47,547.1%£341.83M£1.04M-8,017.5029,900Positive News
Gap Up

Related Companies and Tools


This page (LON:UU) was last updated on 8/2/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
From Our Partners