Aqua America (WTR) Competitors

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) and Aqua America (NYSE:WTR) are both utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, profitability, community ranking, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Does the media favor AWK or WTR?

In the previous week, American Water Works had 25 more articles in the media than Aqua America. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for American Water Works and 0 mentions for Aqua America. American Water Works' average media sentiment score of 0.92 beat Aqua America's score of 0.00 indicating that American Water Works is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
American Water Works	Positive
Aqua America	Neutral

Is AWK or WTR a better dividend stock?

American Water Works pays an annual dividend of $3.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Aqua America pays an annual dividend of $0.94 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. American Water Works pays out 60.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Aqua America pays out 66.7% 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. American Water Works has raised its dividend for 17 consecutive years.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in AWK or WTR?

86.6% of American Water Works shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.5% of Aqua America shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of American Water Works shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Aqua America shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in AWK or WTR?

American Water Works received 133 more outperform votes than Aqua America when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 65.81% of users gave Aqua America an outperform vote while only 64.44% of users gave American Water Works an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
American Water Works	Outperform Votes 493 64.44%	Underperform Votes 272 35.56%
Aqua America	Outperform Votes 360 65.81%	Underperform Votes 187 34.19%

Which has better earnings and valuation, AWK or WTR?

American Water Works has higher revenue and earnings than Aqua America. American Water Works is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Aqua America, 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
American Water Works	$4.23B	6.36	$944M	$5.05	27.37
Aqua America	$838.09M	10.03	$191.99M	$1.41	27.62

Is AWK or WTR more profitable?

American Water Works has a net margin of 21.77% compared to Aqua America's net margin of 18.02%. American Water Works' return on equity of 9.75% beat Aqua America's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Water Works	21.77%	9.75%	3.16%
Aqua America	18.02%	8.81%	3.16%

Which has more volatility and risk, AWK or WTR?

American Water Works has a beta of 0.7, indicating that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aqua America has a beta of 0.32, indicating that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate AWK or WTR?

American Water Works presently has a consensus price target of $142.29, suggesting a potential upside of 2.95%. Given American Water Works' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe American Water Works is more favorable than Aqua America.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Water Works	3 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.88
Aqua America	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Summary

American Water Works beats Aqua America on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.