ONE Gas (OGS) Competitors

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) and ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) are both utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, media sentiment, risk, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Is LNT or OGS a better dividend stock?

Alliant Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. ONE Gas pays an annual dividend of $2.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Alliant Energy pays out 70.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ONE Gas pays out 64.7% 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. Alliant Energy has increased its dividend for 22 consecutive years and ONE Gas has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. ONE Gas is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do analysts rate LNT or OGS?

Alliant Energy presently has a consensus target price of $64.23, indicating a potential upside of 2.16%. ONE Gas has a consensus target price of $77.64, indicating a potential upside of 6.39%. Given ONE Gas' higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe ONE Gas is more favorable than Alliant Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alliant Energy	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.36
ONE Gas	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.29

Do institutionals and insiders believe in LNT or OGS?

79.9% of Alliant Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.7% of ONE Gas shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Alliant Energy shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of ONE Gas shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media favor LNT or OGS?

In the previous week, ONE Gas had 1 more articles in the media than Alliant Energy. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for ONE Gas and 12 mentions for Alliant Energy. Alliant Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.26 beat ONE Gas' score of 0.59 indicating that Alliant Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Alliant Energy	8 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
ONE Gas	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, LNT or OGS?

Alliant Energy has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ONE Gas has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, LNT or OGS?

Alliant Energy has higher revenue and earnings than ONE Gas. ONE Gas 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
Alliant Energy	$3.98B	4.06	$690M	$2.90	21.68
ONE Gas	$2.26B	1.93	$222.85M	$4.14	17.63

Is LNT or OGS more profitable?

Alliant Energy has a net margin of 18.26% compared to ONE Gas' net margin of 10.75%. Alliant Energy's return on equity of 12.01% beat ONE Gas' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alliant Energy	18.26%	12.01%	3.71%
ONE Gas	10.75%	8.15%	2.98%

Summary

Alliant Energy beats ONE Gas on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.