MDU Resources Group (MDU) Competitors

MDU Resources Group (NYSE:MDU) and Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, earnings, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, community ranking and media sentiment.

Is MDU or BKH a better dividend stock?

MDU Resources Group pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Black Hills pays an annual dividend of $2.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. MDU Resources Group pays out 26.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Black Hills pays out 69.9% 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. Black Hills has increased its dividend for 54 consecutive years. Black Hills is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has better earnings & valuation, MDU or BKH?

MDU Resources Group has higher revenue and earnings than Black Hills. MDU Resources Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Black Hills, 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
MDU Resources Group	$4.66B	0.80	$414.71M	$1.95	9.41
Black Hills	$2.33B	1.83	$262.20M	$3.72	16.03

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in MDU or BKH?

71.4% of MDU Resources Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.7% of Black Hills shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of MDU Resources Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Black Hills shares are owned by 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.

Is MDU or BKH more profitable?

Black Hills has a net margin of 12.00% compared to MDU Resources Group's net margin of 8.92%. MDU Resources Group's return on equity of 11.24% beat Black Hills' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MDU Resources Group	8.92%	11.24%	4.23%
Black Hills	12.00%	7.43%	2.60%

Do analysts rate MDU or BKH?

MDU Resources Group currently has a consensus price target of $21.00, indicating a potential upside of 14.48%. Black Hills has a consensus price target of $61.25, indicating a potential upside of 2.71%. Given MDU Resources Group's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe MDU Resources Group is more favorable than Black Hills.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MDU Resources Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75
Black Hills	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer MDU or BKH?

Black Hills received 98 more outperform votes than MDU Resources Group when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 60.49% of users gave MDU Resources Group an outperform vote while only 59.05% of users gave Black Hills an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
MDU Resources Group	Outperform Votes 274 60.49%	Underperform Votes 179 39.51%
Black Hills	Outperform Votes 372 59.05%	Underperform Votes 258 40.95%

Which has more volatility and risk, MDU or BKH?

MDU Resources Group has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Black Hills has a beta of 0.72, indicating that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer MDU or BKH?

In the previous week, Black Hills had 5 more articles in the media than MDU Resources Group. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Black Hills and 5 mentions for MDU Resources Group. MDU Resources Group's average media sentiment score of 0.68 beat Black Hills' score of 0.39 indicating that MDU Resources Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
MDU Resources Group	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Black Hills	4 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

MDU Resources Group beats Black Hills on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.