Essential Utilities (WTRG) Competitors

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) and Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, risk, community ranking, dividends, media sentiment, institutional ownership and valuation.

Which has more volatility & risk, XEL or WTRG?

Xcel Energy has a beta of 0.39, suggesting that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Essential Utilities has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, XEL or WTRG?

Xcel Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Essential Utilities. Essential Utilities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Xcel 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
Xcel Energy	$13.44B	3.01	$1.94B	$3.44	20.43
Essential Utilities	$2.09B	5.27	$498.23M	$2.17	18.39

Does the MarketBeat Community favor XEL or WTRG?

Xcel Energy received 15 more outperform votes than Essential Utilities when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 36.36% of users gave Essential Utilities an outperform vote while only 32.87% of users gave Xcel Energy an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Xcel Energy	Outperform Votes 47 32.87%	Underperform Votes 96 67.13%
Essential Utilities	Outperform Votes 32 36.36%	Underperform Votes 56 63.64%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of XEL or WTRG?

78.4% of Xcel Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.8% of Essential Utilities shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Xcel Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Essential Utilities shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts prefer XEL or WTRG?

Xcel Energy currently has a consensus price target of $73.00, suggesting a potential upside of 3.89%. Essential Utilities has a consensus price target of $43.50, suggesting a potential upside of 9.00%. Given Essential Utilities' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Essential Utilities is more favorable than Xcel Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Xcel Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
Essential Utilities	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83

Is XEL or WTRG a better dividend stock?

Xcel Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Essential Utilities pays an annual dividend of $1.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Xcel Energy pays out 66.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Essential Utilities pays out 59.9% 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. Xcel Energy has increased its dividend for 22 consecutive years and Essential Utilities has increased its dividend for 32 consecutive years. Essential Utilities is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is XEL or WTRG more profitable?

Essential Utilities has a net margin of 27.84% compared to Xcel Energy's net margin of 14.40%. Xcel Energy's return on equity of 10.65% beat Essential Utilities' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Xcel Energy	14.40%	10.65%	2.90%
Essential Utilities	27.84%	7.89%	2.79%

Does the media refer more to XEL or WTRG?

In the previous week, Xcel Energy had 1 more articles in the media than Essential Utilities. MarketBeat recorded 23 mentions for Xcel Energy and 22 mentions for Essential Utilities. Xcel Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.62 beat Essential Utilities' score of 1.27 indicating that Xcel Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Xcel Energy	17 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Essential Utilities	14 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Xcel Energy beats Essential Utilities on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.