Business First Bancshares, Inc.
Business First Bancshares, Inc. (Nasdaq: BFST) is a financial holding company headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and parent to b1BANK, a Louisiana state banking association. The company operates as a community-based financial institution serving small-to-midsized businesses and high net worth individuals across… From the company’s description.
Margins and return on equity change in ; everything else in percent. Fewer shares and less debt are shown plainly, not as bad news — it depends what you make of buybacks. Dotted labels explain each measure. is shown separately from the annual figures.
What Business First Bancshares, Inc. does
In the company’s own words
Business First Bancshares, Inc. (Nasdaq: BFST) is a financial holding company headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and parent to b1BANK, a Louisiana state banking association. The company operates as a community-based financial institution serving small-to-midsized businesses and high net worth individuals across Louisiana, the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, and Houston through a network of banking centers and loan production offices. The company's website is www.b1bank.com.
As of December 31, 2025, Business First Bancshares operates with total consolidated assets of $8.2 billion, total loans of $6.2 billion, total deposits of $6.7 billion, and shareholders' equity of $896.9 million. The company employs 842 total employees, comprising 821 full-time and 21 part-time workers, with full-time equivalents of 831.
The company's core business centers on sophisticated business lending capabilities targeting commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate loans, construction and development loans, and residential real estate loans. Business First also offers comprehensive deposit products including business checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, money market accounts, and treasury management services. Additional offerings include wealth management services, cash management, SBA products, debit and credit cards, merchant services, and correspondent banking services.
Business First's competitive strengths include its expertise in serving underserved small-to-midsized businesses with credit needs between one million and ten million dollars, a true community banking model with decentralized decision-making authority, an entrepreneurial culture attracting talented bankers from larger institutions, and significant investments in technology and risk management infrastructure. The company maintains a disciplined expansion strategy focused on organic growth supplemented by strategic acquisitions.
Recent acquisition activity includes Waterstone LSP, LLC in January 2024, Oakwood Bancshares, Inc. in October 2024, and Progressive Bancorp, Inc. in January 2026. These acquisitions expanded the company's presence in Texas markets and northern Louisiana. Business First's subsidiary entities include Business First Insurance, LLC, Smith Shellnut Wilson, Waterstone, and b1Securities.
Company details
- Sector
- Financials
- Industry
- Banks & Brokers
- Headquarters
- BATON ROUGE, LA
- Fiscal year end
- December
- CIK
- 1624322
- SIC
- 6022
Financial performance, year by year
Fiscal 2015–2025 · USDThe full income statement, balance sheet and cash flow for each of these years — every figure traceable to its filing — is on the Financials tab with a free account.
Who owns Business First Bancshares, Inc. — and what changed
Funds as of 2026Q2 · superinvestors as of 2026-06-30
Largest fund holders · Business First Bancshares, Inc.’s weight in each
Fund ownership is a floor, not a census — pensions, insurers and people holding shares directly are not visible here.
Fund ownership counts N-PORT filers only, so it is a floor rather than a census — pensions, insurers and direct holders are not visible here, and the remainder is not “held by individuals”.
Every fund and institutional holder, quarter by quarter, is on the Ownership tab with a free account.
Recent filings
All filings →Each filing opens into its own statements and disclosures here.
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