Alliant Energy (LNT) Competitors

NiSource (NYSE:NI) and Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, earnings, valuation, community ranking, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, dividends and institutional ownership.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of NI or LNT?

91.6% of NiSource shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.9% of Alliant Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of NiSource 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 endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, NI or LNT?

NiSource has a beta of 0.51, meaning that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alliant Energy has a beta of 0.58, meaning that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to NI or LNT?

In the previous week, NiSource had 4 more articles in the media than Alliant Energy. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for NiSource and 6 mentions for Alliant Energy. NiSource's average media sentiment score of 1.22 beat Alliant Energy's score of 1.10 indicating that NiSource is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
NiSource	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Alliant Energy	4 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate NI or LNT?

NiSource presently has a consensus price target of $37.50, suggesting a potential upside of 0.54%. Alliant Energy has a consensus price target of $63.06, suggesting a potential upside of 1.33%. Given Alliant Energy's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Alliant Energy is more favorable than NiSource.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NiSource	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Alliant Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.44

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, NI or LNT?

NiSource has higher revenue and earnings than Alliant Energy. NiSource is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alliant Energy, 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
NiSource	$5.51B	3.16	$714.30M	$1.65	22.61
Alliant Energy	$4.03B	3.97	$703M	$2.58	24.12

Is NI or LNT a better dividend stock?

NiSource pays an annual dividend of $1.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Alliant Energy pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. NiSource pays out 64.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Alliant Energy pays out 74.4% 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. NiSource has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years and Alliant Energy has raised its dividend for 21 consecutive years. Alliant Energy is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is NI or LNT more profitable?

Alliant Energy has a net margin of 16.66% compared to NiSource's net margin of 14.63%. Alliant Energy's return on equity of 10.56% beat NiSource's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NiSource	14.63%	8.27%	2.70%
Alliant Energy	16.66%	10.56%	3.31%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor NI or LNT?

NiSource received 399 more outperform votes than Alliant Energy when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 54.86% of users gave NiSource an outperform vote while only 36.59% of users gave Alliant Energy an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
NiSource	Outperform Votes 429 54.86%	Underperform Votes 353 45.14%
Alliant Energy	Outperform Votes 30 36.59%	Underperform Votes 52 63.41%

Summary

Alliant Energy beats NiSource on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.