Alliant Energy (NYSE:LNT – Get Rating) and NorthWestern (NYSE:NWE – Get Rating) are both utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability and earnings.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
75.9% of Alliant Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.6% of NorthWestern shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Alliant Energy shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of NorthWestern shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Volatility and Risk
Alliant Energy has a beta of 0.55, indicating that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NorthWestern has a beta of 0.44, indicating that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Alliant Energy | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| NorthWestern | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Dividends
Alliant Energy pays an annual dividend of $1.81 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. NorthWestern pays an annual dividend of $2.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Alliant Energy pays out 66.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NorthWestern pays out 78.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Alliant Energy has increased its dividend for 20 consecutive years and NorthWestern has increased its dividend for 19 consecutive years.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Alliant Energy and NorthWestern’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Alliant Energy | $4.21 billion | 3.27 | $686.28 million | $2.73 | 20.05 |
| NorthWestern | $1.48 billion | 2.43 | $194.25 million | $3.25 | 18.51 |
Alliant Energy has higher revenue and earnings than NorthWestern. NorthWestern is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alliant Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current ratings for Alliant Energy and NorthWestern, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Alliant Energy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
| NorthWestern | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
Summary
Alliant Energy beats NorthWestern on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Alliant Energy
Alliant Energy Corp. is a regulated investor-owned public utility holding company, which engages in the provision of regulated electricity and natural gas service to natural gas customers in the Midwest through its two public utility subsidiaries. It operates through following segments: Electric Utility, Gas Utility, Other Utility, and Non-Utility and Other. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Madison, WI.
About NorthWestern
NorthWestern Corp. engages in generating and distributing electricity and natural gas. It operates through the following segments: Electric, Gas, and Other. The Electric segment includes generation, transmission, and distribution of electric utility business as a vertically integrated generation transmission and distribution utility. The Gas segment comprises production, storage, transmission, and distribution of natural gas. The Other segment consists of unallocated corporate costs. The company was founded in November 1923 and is headquartered in Sioux Falls, SD.
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