York Water (YORW) Competitors

York Water (NASDAQ:YORW) and SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) are both small-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership and community ranking.

Is YORW or SJW a better dividend stock?

York Water pays an annual dividend of $0.87 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. SJW Group pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. York Water pays out 61.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SJW Group 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. York Water has increased its dividend for 27 consecutive years and SJW Group has increased its dividend for 57 consecutive years. SJW Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts recommend YORW or SJW?

SJW Group has a consensus target price of $57.50, suggesting a potential upside of 1.85%. Given SJW Group's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe SJW Group is more favorable than York Water.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
York Water	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
SJW Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer YORW or SJW?

SJW Group received 184 more outperform votes than York Water when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.96% of users gave SJW Group an outperform vote while only 57.14% of users gave York Water an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
York Water	Outperform Votes 208 57.14%	Underperform Votes 156 42.86%
SJW Group	Outperform Votes 392 60.96%	Underperform Votes 251 39.04%

Do insiders and institutionals believe in YORW or SJW?

49.9% of York Water shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.3% of SJW Group shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of York Water shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of SJW Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is YORW or SJW more profitable?

York Water has a net margin of 28.57% compared to SJW Group's net margin of 12.47%. York Water's return on equity of 9.44% beat SJW Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
York Water	28.57%	9.44%	3.50%
SJW Group	12.47%	7.16%	2.05%

Which has more volatility & risk, YORW or SJW?

York Water has a beta of 0.65, meaning that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SJW Group has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its stock price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor YORW or SJW?

In the previous week, SJW Group had 9 more articles in the media than York Water. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for SJW Group and 5 mentions for York Water. York Water's average media sentiment score of 1.16 beat SJW Group's score of 0.96 indicating that York Water is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
York Water	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
SJW Group	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has higher earnings & valuation, YORW or SJW?

SJW Group has higher revenue and earnings than York Water. SJW Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than York Water, 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
York Water	$74.96M	6.79	$23.76M	$1.42	24.91
SJW Group	$748.44M	2.58	$84.99M	$2.85	19.81

Summary

SJW Group beats York Water on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.