Sifting through countless of stocks in the Banks industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in City Holding Company or First Busey Corporation because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how City Holding Company and First Busey Corporation compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About City Holding Company and First Busey Corporation

City Holding Company operates as a financial holding company for City National Bank of West Virginia that provides banking, trust and investment management, and other financial solutions in the United States. It offers checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit and individual retirement accounts. The company also provides commercial and industrial loans that consist of loans to corporate and other legal entity borrowers primarily in small to mid-size industrial and commercial companies; commercial real estate loans comprising commercial mortgages, which are secured by nonresidential and multi-family residential properties; residential real estate loans to consumers for the purchase or refinance of residence; first-priority home equity loans; home equity lines of credit; amortized home equity loans; consumer loans that are secured and unsecured by automobiles, boats, recreational vehicles, certificates of deposit, and other personal property; and demand deposit account overdrafts, as well as owner-occupied real estate and construction, land development, and lines of credit. In addition, it offers mortgage banking services, including fixed and adjustable-rate mortgages, construction financing, land loans, production of conventional and government-insured mortgages, secondary marketing, and mortgage servicing. Further, the company provides treasury management, lockbox, and other cash management services; merchant credit card services; wealth management, trust, investment, and custodial services for commercial and individual customers; and corporate trust and institutional custody, financial and estate planning, and retirement plan services, as well as automated-teller-machine, interactive-teller-machine, mobile banking, interactive voice response systems, and credit and debit card services. The company was founded in 1957 and is headquartered in Charleston, West Virginia.

First Busey Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Busey Bank that engages in the provision of retail and commercial banking products and services to individual, corporate, institutional, and governmental customers in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Banking, Wealth Management, and FirsTech. It offers demand and savings deposits, money transfers, safe deposit services, individual retirement accounts and other fiduciary services, automated teller machines, and technology-based networks, as well as various loan products, including residential real estate, home equity lines of credit, and consumer loans to individual customers; and commercial, commercial real estate, real estate construction, and agricultural loans, as well as cash management services to corporate customers. The company also provides asset management, investment, brokerage, fiduciary, philanthropic advisory, tax preparation, and farm management services; trust and estate advisory services and financial planning; succession planning and employee retirement plan; and investment strategy consulting services to individuals, businesses, and foundations. In addition, its payment technology solution offers text-based mobile bill pay; interactive voice response; electronic payment concentration delivered to automated clearing house networks, money management, and credit card networks; walk-in payment processing for customers at retail pay agents; customer service payments made over a telephone; direct debit services; merchant services referral solutions; lockbox remittance processing for customers to make payments by mail; and tools for billing, reconciliation, bill reminders, and treasury services. The company was founded in 1868 and is headquartered in Leawood, Kansas.

Latest Banks and City Holding Company, First Busey Corporation Stock News

As of July 31, 2026, City Holding Company had a $2.0 billion market capitalization, compared to the Banks median of $716.9 million. City Holding Company’s stock is up 21.7% in 2026, up 3.9% in the previous five trading days and up 17.19% in the past year.

Currently, City Holding Company’s price-earnings ratio is 16.0. City Holding Company’s trailing 12-month revenue is $319.7 million with a 41.1% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 5.4%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $9.264 per share for the current fiscal year. City Holding Company currently has a 2.4% dividend yield.

As of July 31, 2026, First Busey Corporation had a $2.6 billion market cap, putting it in the 57th percentile of all stocks. First Busey Corporation’s stock is up 29.7% in 2026, up 3.4% in the previous five trading days and up 36.43% in the past year.

Currently, First Busey Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 13.8. First Busey Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $780.7 million with a 29.5% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 143.3%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $2.686 per share for the current fiscal year. First Busey Corporation currently has a 3.4% dividend yield.

How We Compare City Holding Company and First Busey Corporation Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at City Holding Company and First Busey Corporation’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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City Holding Company and First Busey Corporation Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
City Holding Company	CHCO	C
First Busey Corporation	BUSE	C

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

City Holding Company has a Value Score of 43, which is Average. First Busey Corporation has a Value Score of 43, which is Average.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither City Holding Company or First Busey Corporation has a high enough value grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if City Holding Company or First Busey Corporation is the better investment when it comes to value.

City Holding Company and First Busey Corporation’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
City Holding Company	CHCO	D
First Busey Corporation	BUSE	D

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

City Holding Company has a Quality Score of 34, which is Weak. First Busey Corporation has a Quality Score of 21, which is Weak.

The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither City Holding Company or First Busey Corporation has a high enough Quality Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if City Holding Company or First Busey Corporation is the better investment when it comes to quality.

City Holding Company and First Busey Corporation’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
City Holding Company	CHCO	B
First Busey Corporation	BUSE	B

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

City Holding Company has a Earnings Estimate Score of 70, which is Positive. First Busey Corporation has a Earnings Estimate Score of 73, which is Positive.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, both City Holding Company and First Busey Corporation have a grade of B. For those focusing solely on a company’s estimate revisions, other financial metrics will need to be evaluated to determine whether City Holding Company or First Busey Corporation is a better fit.

Other City Holding Company and First Busey Corporation Grades

In addition to Quality, Value and Estimate Revisions, A+ Investor also provides grades for Growth and Momentum.

Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether City Holding Company and First Busey Corporation pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, City Holding Company or First Busey Corporation Stock?

Overall, City Holding Company stock has a Value Score of 43, Estimate Revisions Score of 70 and Quality Score of 34.

First Busey Corporation stock has a Value Score of 43, Estimate Revisions Score of 73 and Quality Score of 21.

Comparing City Holding Company and First Busey Corporation’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.