Unitil (UTL) Competitors

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) and Avista (NYSE:AVA) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, media sentiment, earnings, institutional ownership and valuation.

Do analysts rate UTL or AVA?

Unitil presently has a consensus price target of $55.00, indicating a potential upside of 17.20%. Avista has a consensus price target of $38.00, indicating a potential upside of 2.94%. Given Unitil's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Unitil is more favorable than Avista.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Unitil	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Avista	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.50

Which has more volatility and risk, UTL or AVA?

Unitil has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Avista has a beta of 0.4, indicating that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is UTL or AVA more profitable?

Unitil has a net margin of 9.54% compared to Avista's net margin of 9.13%. Unitil's return on equity of 9.46% beat Avista's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Unitil	9.54%	9.46%	2.69%
Avista	9.13%	6.86%	2.25%

Does the media prefer UTL or AVA?

In the previous week, Unitil had 3 more articles in the media than Avista. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Unitil and 8 mentions for Avista. Avista's average media sentiment score of 1.29 beat Unitil's score of 0.41 indicating that Avista is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Unitil	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Avista	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better earnings and valuation, UTL or AVA?

Avista has higher revenue and earnings than Unitil. Unitil is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Avista, 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
Unitil	$494.80M	1.55	$47.10M	$2.91	16.13
Avista	$1.94B	1.54	$180M	$2.22	16.63

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of UTL or AVA?

76.8% of Unitil shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.2% of Avista shares are held by institutional investors. 2.0% of Unitil shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Avista shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is UTL or AVA a better dividend stock?

Unitil pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Avista pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Unitil pays out 61.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Avista pays out 88.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Unitil has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years and Avista has increased its dividend for 23 consecutive years. Avista is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Unitil beats Avista on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.