WEC vs. AEE, ED, CMS, PEG, NI, PCG, XEL, EXC, LNT, and EVRG
Should you be buying WEC Energy Group stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of WEC Energy Group include Ameren (AEE), Consolidated Edison (ED), CMS Energy (CMS), Public Service Enterprise Group (PEG), NiSource (NI), PG&E (PCG), Xcel Energy (XEL), Exelon (EXC), Alliant Energy (LNT), and Evergy (EVRG). These companies are all part of the "electric & other services combined" industry.
WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) and Ameren (NYSE:AEE) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, media sentiment, community ranking, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability and earnings.
WEC Energy Group pays an annual dividend of $3.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Ameren pays an annual dividend of $2.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. WEC Energy Group pays out 72.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ameren pays out 61.6% 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.
In the previous week, Ameren had 8 more articles in the media than WEC Energy Group. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Ameren and 5 mentions for WEC Energy Group. Ameren's average media sentiment score of 1.09 beat WEC Energy Group's score of 1.08 indicating that Ameren is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
WEC Energy Group presently has a consensus price target of $86.29, indicating a potential upside of 0.92%. Ameren has a consensus price target of $79.90, indicating a potential upside of 6.90%. Given Ameren's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Ameren is more favorable than WEC Energy Group.
WEC Energy Group has higher revenue and earnings than Ameren. Ameren is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WEC Energy Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
77.2% of WEC Energy Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.1% of Ameren shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of WEC Energy Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Ameren 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.
WEC Energy Group has a net margin of 16.67% compared to Ameren's net margin of 15.84%. WEC Energy Group's return on equity of 13.01% beat Ameren's return on equity.
WEC Energy Group has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ameren has a beta of 0.44, suggesting that its share price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.
WEC Energy Group received 73 more outperform votes than Ameren when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 52.43% of users gave WEC Energy Group an outperform vote while only 51.26% of users gave Ameren an outperform vote.
Summary
WEC Energy Group beats Ameren on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding WEC and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
WEC Energy Group Competitors List
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