In this post, lets discuss the Top 10 European utility companies and their ADR stocks.

For our analysis lets use the Dow Jones STOXX® 600 Utilities Index as the proxy.This contains all the largest utility companies of Europe.There are a total of 33 components in this index.The components are:

Utility Name:
AEM
Atel Holding AG
British Energy Group plc
Centrica plc
Drax Group Plc (New)
E.D.F
E.ON
EDP
Enagás
ENEL
Fortum
Gas Natural
Gaz de France
Hera Spa
Iberdrola (New)
Iberdrola Renovables
International Power plc
National Grid
Northumbrian Water Group plc
Pennon Group plc
Public Power Corp.
Red Eléctrica ESP
Renewable Energy
RWE
Scottish and Southern Energy plc
Severn Trent plc
Snam Rete Gas
Solarworld
Terna S.p.A.
Union Fenosa (new)
United Utilities Group plc
Veolia Environnement
Verbundgesellschaft

For comparison, I used the db x-trackers Dow Jones STOXX® 600 Utilities ETF. The top ten holdings in both the Index and the ETF are the following stocks. These are some of the largest utilities in Europe.All these stocks are available as ADRs in the US markets.Most of them are listed in the OTC markets.

1.E.ON AG – EONGY
Based in Düsseldorf,Germany EON operates in the electricity and natural gas business in many European countries like Hungary,Switzerland,etc. and also in the US (Kentucky).

EON has a P/E ratio of 12.5 and a dividend yield of 3.63%. The market cap is about $108B with 1.9B shares outstanding. The annual dividend growth rate for the past 5 years is 18.56%.

2.Gaz de France – GZFCF (now GDF Suez)
Gaz De France is a natural gas provide in France. The current stock price is $54.35.The company merged with Suez last month to become GDF Suez.

3.Iberdrola SA – IBDRY
Iberdrola is an electric utility in Spain.IBDRY has a dividend yield of 4.2% and currently goes for $46.75.

4.RWE AG – RWEOY
RWE is another large utility in Germany. It is a multi-utility operating in electricity, water and gas industries.

RWEOY has a dividend yield of 4.61% and a PE of 19.50. The 5 year annual dividend growth rate has been 23.42%.

5.Enel Spa – ENLAY
This Italian Utility Enel Spa is short name for Ente Nazionale per l’energia ELettrica –
Societa Per Azioni.ENLAY has a dividend yield of 19.70%.Currently the stock
goes for $9+.

Enel has cancelled it ADR from NYSE and the stock now trades on the OTC with very light volume. As per this news release “ENEL ANNOUNCES ITS INTENTION TO DELIST FROM NYSE AND TO TERMINATE REGISTRATION OF ITS ORDINARY SHARES AND ADSs UNDER THE EXCHANGE ACT”

Enel has not arranged for listing in any exchange.So detailed research is needed on this stock.

6.National Grid plc – NGG
NGG is an electric and gas utility in UK.NGG has a dividend yield of 6.07% and a PE of 12.08.The 5-year annual dividend growth rate is 13.92%.

7.Scottish and Southern Energy plc – SSEZY
This is another British utility.It has a dividend yield of 4.39%.The stock currently trades for $27.18.

8.Electricite de France – ECIFF
As the name implies this is another French electric utility. The OTC stock does not seem to trade often.The last trade was at $83.15.

9.Centrica plc – CPYYY
Again this British utility does not seem trade often as well. The last price per share was $57.60 and a dividend yield of 4.48%.

10.Veolia Environment – VE
This multi-utility from France has a dividend yield of 3.42% and a PE of 18.0.The 5-year annual dividend growth rate is 17.08%.

The 5-year growth of the Dow Jones STOXX® 600 Utilities Index (in Euros) is displayed below:

Source: DJ Stoxx

Full Disclosure: I currently own EONGY and VE.

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