Northwest Natural (NWN) Competitors

UGI (NYSE:UGI) and Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) are both utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, dividends, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, community ranking, risk and valuation.

Is UGI or NWN a better dividend stock?

UGI pays an annual dividend of $1.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. Northwest Natural pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. UGI pays out 121.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Northwest Natural pays out 92.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. UGI has increased its dividend for 37 consecutive years and Northwest Natural has increased its dividend for 70 consecutive years.

Is UGI or NWN more profitable?

Northwest Natural has a net margin of 6.90% compared to UGI's net margin of 3.73%. UGI's return on equity of 14.64% beat Northwest Natural's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UGI	3.73%	14.64%	4.28%
Northwest Natural	6.90%	5.89%	1.61%

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of UGI or NWN?

82.3% of UGI shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.1% of Northwest Natural shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of UGI shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Northwest Natural shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media refer more to UGI or NWN?

In the previous week, Northwest Natural had 2 more articles in the media than UGI. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Northwest Natural and 5 mentions for UGI. Northwest Natural's average media sentiment score of 0.74 beat UGI's score of 0.51 indicating that Northwest Natural is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
UGI	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Northwest Natural	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, UGI or NWN?

UGI has a beta of 1.21, suggesting that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Northwest Natural has a beta of 0.62, suggesting that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor UGI or NWN?

Northwest Natural received 51 more outperform votes than UGI when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 53.72% of users gave UGI an outperform vote while only 52.08% of users gave Northwest Natural an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
UGI	Outperform Votes 224 53.72%	Underperform Votes 193 46.28%
Northwest Natural	Outperform Votes 275 52.08%	Underperform Votes 253 47.92%

Do analysts prefer UGI or NWN?

UGI presently has a consensus target price of $28.33, indicating a potential downside of 5.88%. Northwest Natural has a consensus target price of $43.50, indicating a potential upside of 7.75%. Given Northwest Natural's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Northwest Natural is more favorable than UGI.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
UGI	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Northwest Natural	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has higher valuation & earnings, UGI or NWN?

UGI has higher revenue and earnings than Northwest Natural. Northwest Natural is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than UGI, 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
UGI	$7.21B	0.90	$269M	$1.24	24.28
Northwest Natural	$1.20B	1.35	$93.87M	$2.12	19.04

Summary

Northwest Natural beats UGI on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.