Reviewing Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) & Unitil (NYSE:UTL)

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) and Unitil (NYSE:UTL) are both utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Eversource Energy and Unitil, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eversource Energy	3	5	3	1	2.17
Unitil	0	5	0	0	2.00

Eversource Energy presently has a consensus target price of $71.70, indicating a potential upside of 3.82%. Unitil has a consensus target price of $56.50, indicating a potential upside of 10.26%. Given Unitil’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Unitil is more favorable than Eversource Energy.

Profitability

This table compares Eversource Energy and Unitil’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eversource Energy	12.55%	11.59%	2.97%
Unitil	9.60%	9.89%	2.89%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.0% of Eversource Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.8% of Unitil shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Eversource Energy shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of Unitil shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Eversource Energy and Unitil”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eversource Energy	$13.55 billion	1.92	$1.69 billion	$4.68	14.76
Unitil	$536.00 million	1.72	$50.20 million	$3.16	16.22

Eversource Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Unitil. Eversource Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Unitil, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Eversource Energy has a beta of 0.74, meaning that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unitil has a beta of 0.33, meaning that its stock price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Eversource Energy pays an annual dividend of $3.15 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Unitil pays an annual dividend of $1.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Eversource Energy pays out 67.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Unitil pays out 60.1% 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. Eversource Energy has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Unitil has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years.

Summary

Eversource Energy beats Unitil on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Eversource Energy

Eversource Energy, a public utility holding company, engages in the energy delivery business. The company operates through Electric Distribution, Electric Transmission, Natural Gas Distribution, and Water Distribution segments. It is involved in the transmission and distribution of electricity; solar power facilities; and distribution of natural gas. The company operates regulated water utilities that provide water services to approximately 241,000 customers. It serves residential, commercial, industrial, municipal and fire protection, and other customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. The company was formerly known as Northeast Utilities and changed its name to Eversource Energy in April 2015. Eversource Energy was incorporated in 1927 and is headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts.

About Unitil

Unitil Corporation, a public utility holding company, engages in the distribution of electricity and natural gas. It operates through two segments, Utility Electric Operations, Utility Gas Operations. The company distributes electricity in the southeastern seacoast and state capital regions of New Hampshire, and the greater Fitchburg area of north central Massachusetts; and distributes natural gas in southeastern New Hampshire and portions of southern and central Maine, including the city of Portland and the Lewiston-Auburn area, as well as electricity and natural gas in the greater Fitchburg area of north central Massachusetts. It also operates 86 miles of interstate underground natural gas transmission pipeline that provides interstate natural gas pipeline access and transportation services primarily in Maine and New Hampshire. In addition, the company provides real estate management services. It serves approximately 108,100 electric customers and 87,500 natural gas customers. Unitil Corporation was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Hampton, New Hampshire.