Alliant Energy (LNT) Competitors

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

Which has more risk & volatility, LNT or NI?

Alliant Energy has a beta of 0.54, meaning that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NiSource has a beta of 0.49, meaning that its stock price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor LNT or NI?

NiSource received 391 more outperform votes than Alliant Energy when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 53.92% of users gave NiSource an outperform vote while only 33.33% of users gave Alliant Energy an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Alliant Energy	Outperform Votes 22 33.33%	Underperform Votes 44 66.67%
NiSource	Outperform Votes 413 53.92%	Underperform Votes 353 46.08%

Is LNT or NI a better dividend stock?

Alliant Energy pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. NiSource pays an annual dividend of $1.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Alliant Energy pays out 69.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NiSource pays out 72.1% 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. Alliant Energy is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do analysts prefer LNT or NI?

Alliant Energy currently has a consensus target price of $50.71, indicating a potential downside of 0.27%. NiSource has a consensus target price of $29.00, indicating a potential upside of 1.79%. Given NiSource's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe NiSource is more favorable than Alliant Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alliant Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
NiSource	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has higher valuation and earnings, LNT or NI?

NiSource has higher revenue and earnings than Alliant Energy. Alliant Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NiSource, 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
Alliant Energy	$4.03B	3.23	$703M	$2.78	18.29
NiSource	$5.51B	2.32	$714.30M	$1.47	19.38

Is LNT or NI more profitable?

Alliant Energy has a net margin of 17.46% compared to NiSource's net margin of 12.98%. Alliant Energy's return on equity of 10.85% beat NiSource's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alliant Energy	17.46%	10.85%	3.44%
NiSource	12.98%	10.10%	2.60%

Does the media favor LNT or NI?

In the previous week, Alliant Energy had 9 more articles in the media than NiSource. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for Alliant Energy and 7 mentions for NiSource. Alliant Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.07 beat NiSource's score of 0.67 indicating that Alliant Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Alliant Energy	9 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
NiSource	4 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in LNT or NI?

79.9% of Alliant Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of NiSource shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Alliant Energy shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of NiSource shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Alliant Energy beats NiSource on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.