Unitil (UTL) Competitors

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) and MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, community ranking, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Which has better valuation & earnings, UTL or MGEE?

MGE Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Unitil. Unitil is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MGE 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
Unitil	$557.10M	1.59	$45.20M	$2.93	18.70
MGE Energy	$690.43M	4.92	$117.70M	$3.27	28.69

Does the media refer more to UTL or MGEE?

In the previous week, MGE Energy had 5 more articles in the media than Unitil. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for MGE Energy and 1 mentions for Unitil. MGE Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.48 beat Unitil's score of 0.92 indicating that MGE Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Unitil	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
MGE Energy	4 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of UTL or MGEE?

76.8% of Unitil shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.6% of MGE Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of Unitil shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of MGE Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is UTL or MGEE a better dividend stock?

Unitil pays an annual dividend of $1.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. MGE Energy pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Unitil pays out 58.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. MGE Energy pays out 55.0% 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. MGE Energy has increased its dividend for 49 consecutive years.

Do analysts rate UTL or MGEE?

MGE Energy has a consensus target price of $74.00, suggesting a potential downside of 21.11%. Given MGE Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe MGE Energy is more favorable than Unitil.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Unitil	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
MGE Energy	2 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.00

Does the MarketBeat Community favor UTL or MGEE?

Unitil received 122 more outperform votes than MGE Energy when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.79% of users gave Unitil an outperform vote while only 54.82% of users gave MGE Energy an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Unitil	Outperform Votes 338 61.79%	Underperform Votes 209 38.21%
MGE Energy	Outperform Votes 216 54.82%	Underperform Votes 178 45.18%

Is UTL or MGEE more profitable?

MGE Energy has a net margin of 17.70% compared to Unitil's net margin of 9.46%. MGE Energy's return on equity of 10.18% beat Unitil's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Unitil	9.46%	9.43%	2.79%
MGE Energy	17.70%	10.18%	4.38%

Which has more volatility and risk, UTL or MGEE?

Unitil has a beta of 0.63, suggesting that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MGE Energy has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

MGE Energy beats Unitil on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.