Exploring Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (CANF) Investor Profile: Who’s Buying and Why?

You're looking at Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (CANF) and trying to figure out who's actually buying this stock, and honestly, the ownership profile tells a classic biotech story of high risk and high reward. The near-term risks are clear: the company reported a net loss of $4.87 million for the first half of 2025, with institutional ownership sitting low at just 5.89% of the float, meaning retail traders and small funds drive most of the daily volatility. But, the opportunity is huge, so you have to ask: are the recent buyers betting on the pipeline catalysts alone? Just this month, the news about a 9-year survival with Namodenoson in an advanced liver cancer patient dropped, plus Piclidenoson is targeting the $6 billion vascular dementia market. Here's the quick math: the stock trades around a tiny $6.32 million market capitalization, but the average analyst price target is a wild $10.50. Are the few institutions and the many retail investors who are defintely buying now right to ignore the H1 revenue of only $0.20 million? Let's explore the filings to see which specific funds are making that high-stakes bet and why.

Who Invests in Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (CANF) and Why?

If you're looking at Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (CANF), you're fundamentally looking at a high-stakes, catalyst-driven biotech play. The investor base is split, but the dominant force is defintely the individual, retail investor, not the large institutions you might expect. This ownership structure tells you everything about the stock's volatility and the nature of the investment.

The core attraction isn't current earnings-which show a net loss of $4.87 million in the first half of 2025-but the pipeline potential. It's a bet on clinical success turning a micro-cap company into a multi-billion-dollar entity overnight. The company's recent $5 million public offering in July 2025, following a $3.0 million offering in April 2025, shows a clear reliance on external financing to fund this bet. Here's the quick math: R&D expenses for H1 2025 were $3.03 million, a 5.16% increase, so they need that cash to keep the trials moving.

Key Investor Types: Retail Dominance and Hedge Fund Speculation

The most striking feature of Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd.'s investor profile is the heavy concentration in the hands of Public Companies & Retail Investors. They hold an estimated 87.38% of the company's shares outstanding. This is a massive figure for a publicly traded firm and explains the stock's tendency for sharp, news-driven movements. When a small group of high-conviction retail investors moves, the stock price moves dramatically.

Institutional interest, conversely, is low. Total institutional ownership is around 12.45% of shares outstanding, and only 5.89% of the float, which is tiny for a NYSE American-listed company. These institutions are mostly specialized hedge funds and smaller asset managers engaged in high-risk biotech speculation, not traditional long-only mutual funds. Their positions are often event-driven. For example, top holders include firms like Sabby Management, Llc and Armistice Capital Master Fund Ltd., which often focus on pre-commercial biotechs.

• Retail Investors: Dominate the ownership, driving volatility.
• Institutional Investors: Low ownership, mainly specialized hedge funds.
• Float Ownership: Institutions hold only 5.89% of the float.

Investment Motivations: Betting on the A3AR Platform

Investors are drawn to Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (CANF) for one reason: the potential blockbuster status of its drug candidates, all based on the A3 adenosine receptor (A3AR) platform. They are not buying for dividends-there are none-or stable revenue, which was only $0.20 million in H1 2025.

The primary motivation is the enormous upside if a key clinical trial hits its endpoint. The company's pipeline includes two main drugs, each targeting multi-billion-dollar markets with high unmet needs:

• Namodenoson: In a Phase 2a trial for pancreatic cancer, having achieved over 50% enrollment, plus FDA compassionate use approval. News in November 2025 of a 9-year survival with a complete cure in an advanced liver cancer patient treated with Namodenoson is the kind of data that fuels the long-term growth thesis.
• Piclidenoson: A breakthrough UCLA study highlighted its potential for vascular dementia treatment. This is a huge opportunity, targeting a global market estimated at $6 billion with zero FDA-approved therapies currently available.

This is a clear 'binary event' investment. You either get a massive return if a drug is approved, or you lose most of your capital if a trial fails. For a deeper dive into the financials that underpin these bets, you can read Breaking Down Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (CANF) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Investment Strategies: Catalyst-Driven and Long-Shot Value

Given the company's profile, two main strategies emerge among the investor base: long-term conviction and short-term trading.

Long-Term Catalyst Holding: This is the strategy of investors, often retail, who buy and hold based on the belief that one of the A3AR drugs will eventually gain approval. They are essentially practicing long-shot value investing, viewing the company's current market capitalization of approximately $6.32 million as deeply undervalued compared to the potential revenue from a successful drug. Wall Street analysts, for example, have an average 12-month price target of $6.75, suggesting a forecasted upside of over 1,600% from recent trading prices. They are betting on the long-term clinical data, like the Namodenoson survival news, not the current cash flow.

Short-Term Event Trading: This is common among both retail traders and the hedge funds that are invested. They trade around clinical milestones, FDA announcements, and financing news. For instance, the FDA compassionate use approval for Namodenoson earlier in 2025 sent the stock up 18%. This strategy is pure speculation on near-term news flow, aiming to capture the immediate volatility spike. The stock's low price and high retail float make it a prime candidate for this kind of trading.

What this estimate hides is the high risk of dilution; the company raised capital twice in 2025, which increases the share count and can depress the stock price, even with good news. Still, for those who believe in the science, the potential reward justifies the risk.

Institutional Ownership and Major Shareholders of Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (CANF)

You're looking at Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (CANF) and trying to figure out who the smart money is, and honestly, the institutional picture is typical for a micro-cap biotech. The direct takeaway is that institutional ownership is low, sitting at about 5.89% as of November 2025, which means the stock is heavily influenced by retail investors and news flow, not large, stable institutional blocks.

This low institutional float means you see big price swings, like the stock's decline from $2.11/share in November 2024 to about $0.41/share by November 7, 2025.

Top Institutional Investors: Who's Buying In?

Despite the low overall percentage, a core group of institutional investors holds significant positions. These aren't the BlackRock or Vanguard behemoths you might see in a large-cap stock, but rather specialized funds and smaller asset managers. Their involvement is crucial because, in a company with a small market capitalization of around $6.32M (as of November 18, 2025), even a modest position can represent a meaningful stake.

As of the most recent filings (Q3 2025), the largest institutional holder by a significant margin is Sabby Management, Llc. They are a hedge fund, and their involvement often signals a focus on short-term catalysts or financing events, not a long-term, passive bet on the drug pipeline.

Here's a look at the top institutional holders and their reported positions from the 2025 fiscal year filings:

Note the total value of these holdings is quite small. The collective institutional position is just over 920,379 shares across 19 institutions, which is a tiny fraction of the total shares outstanding.

Recent Shifts: Institutional Stakes Are Volatile

The changes in ownership from quarter to quarter are defintely worth watching, especially in a company like Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. that relies on capital raises and clinical trial data. These shifts tell you if the smart money is moving in for a catalyst or heading for the exits.

In the third quarter of 2025, we saw some dramatic movements:

• Sabby Management, Llc significantly increased its stake, adding 626,306 shares for an 80.322% change.
• Bogart Wealth, Llc was a new buyer, establishing a position of 15,045 shares.
• Conversely, Two Sigma Securities, Llc cut its position by -33.752%, selling 5,422 shares.

Here's the quick math: when a hedge fund like Sabby Management, Llc increases its position by over 80% in a quarter, it's usually a high-conviction bet on an imminent event-like a financing round, or a key clinical data readout-that they expect to move the stock quickly. It's a trading position, not a buy-and-hold strategy.

The Impact of Institutional Investors on CANF's Strategy

In a larger company, institutional investors can demand board seats or push for strategic changes (activist investing). For Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd., the impact is less about corporate strategy and more about market mechanics: liquidity and volatility. Institutional holdings can be used to gauge the volatility and value on the company's stock.

Because the institutional ownership is so low, the stock is inherently more volatile. Large institutional trades, even small ones in absolute terms, can disproportionately move the share price. When a fund sells, the stock drops fast because there aren't enough large, stable buyers to absorb the volume.

• Liquidity Provider: Institutions like Rhumbline Advisers, which often track small-cap indices, provide a baseline of liquidity.
• Volatility Amplifier: Hedge funds engaging in significant buying or selling (like Sabby's recent jump) are often momentum traders, which amplifies volatility around news.
• Capital Validation: The presence of any institutional money, even small amounts from firms like Morgan Stanley, offers a sliver of third-party validation, which can help Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. raise capital in the future.

The key thing to remember is that most of these investors are passive or short-term traders, not strategic partners influencing drug development. If you want to dive deeper into the company's core business, you should read Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (CANF): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money.

Next Step: Portfolio Manager: Model a 10% institutional sell-off scenario to stress-test the liquidity of your current position by end of week.

Key Investors and Their Impact on Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (CANF)

If you're looking at Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (CANF), you need to know who's holding the stock, because in a clinical-stage biotech company, investor conviction is often the clearest signal of perceived risk and opportunity. The short answer is that while institutional money is present, the shareholder base is overwhelmingly retail, which shifts the dynamics of stock movement.

Institutional ownership, meaning the stake held by large funds and financial firms, sits at a low level, accounting for roughly 5.89% of the company's float as of November 2025. This means that public companies and individual retail investors collectively hold the lion's share, about 87.38% of the shares outstanding. That's a huge percentage, and it tells you that the stock's daily price action is defintely more susceptible to retail sentiment, news flow around clinical trials, and dilution events, rather than the steady hand of large, long-term funds.

Notable Institutional Holders and Recent Moves

Even with low overall institutional ownership, a few key players stand out. The largest institutional holder is Sabby Management, LLC, a well-known hedge fund that focuses on the healthcare sector. Their moves are worth watching because they represent a significant block of institutional capital.

Here's the quick math on the most recent activity from the third quarter (Q3) of the 2025 fiscal year, which is the latest data we have from their 13F filings (reports filed by institutional investment managers):

• Sabby Management, LLC: Increased their position by a massive +80.3%, adding 626,306 shares. This single move suggests a strong conviction in the company's pipeline, particularly after the positive clinical updates on Namodenoson and Piclidenoson.
• Bogart Wealth, LLC: Also showed a strong buy signal, adding 15,045 shares to their portfolio in Q3 2025.
• Morgan Stanley: Added 2,643 shares, a modest but notable increase of +26.7% in Q3 2025.

To be fair, institutional buying isn't universal. Two Sigma Securities, LLC and UBS Group AG were among those that reduced their positions in Q3 2025, showing that not all large investors are on the same page regarding the near-term outlook. Still, the large increase by Sabby Management, LLC is a powerful signal in a small-cap biotech.

Investor Influence and The Dilution Factor

In a company with a small market capitalization, around $6.32 million as of November 2025, the actions of a single large holder like Sabby Management, LLC can have an outsized impact on the stock price. When they buy, it can create a strong upward momentum; when they sell, it can accelerate a decline.

The biggest challenge for investors is the company's reliance on capital raises to fund its clinical trials. For example, in H1 2025, the company reported a net loss of $4.87 million, which was an increase from the $3.95 million net loss in H1 2024. This persistent need for funding often leads to the issuance of new shares, a process called dilution, where the total shares outstanding have grown by over 150.6% in the past year. Dilution is what keeps the stock price suppressed, even with good clinical news, as it increases the number of shares each investor owns a piece of the company with.

The shareholders do exercise their influence in governance, though. On November 10, 2025, a Special General Meeting of Shareholders approved all proposals, which is a necessary step for strategic and financial maneuvers, including potential future capital raises. If you want to understand the strategic rationale behind these proposals, you should review the company's Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (CANF).

Here are the top institutional holders by value from recent filings, which shows where the biggest bets are placed:

Finance: Track Sabby Management, LLC's next 13F filing for Q4 2025 to see if their conviction continues.

Market Impact and Investor Sentiment

You're looking at Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (CANF), a clinical-stage biotech, and seeing a classic split: bearish technical signals clashing with highly bullish analyst targets. This tells me the market is defintely confused, but institutional money sees a long-shot opportunity in the drug pipeline. The current technical sentiment, based on indicators as of November 2025, is overwhelmingly bearish, with 26 technical analysis indicators signaling a sell and zero signaling a buy. The Fear & Greed Index is flashing Fear.

But, here's the quick math on the institutional side: the total institutional ownership is low, around 12.61% of shares outstanding, but the conviction of the few analysts covering the stock is high. This is a high-risk, high-reward profile. The biggest holders, like Sabby Management, Llc, held over 1.4 million shares as of September 30, 2025, demonstrating a significant, albeit concentrated, bet on the company's future clinical success.

The investor profile is clearly divided between short-term traders reacting to volatility and long-term biotech investors focused purely on the drug pipeline potential. That low institutional percentage means retail investors and other public companies hold the vast majority-about 87.38% of the total shares.

• Technical sentiment: Bearish, driven by price action.
• Analyst consensus: Moderate Buy or Strong Buy.
• Total institutional ownership: Low at roughly 12.61%.

Recent Market Reactions to Ownership and News

The stock market's reaction to news is dramatic, which is typical for a micro-cap biotech with a market capitalization of roughly $6.32 million. You saw this play out on November 18, 2025, when the stock surged by 51.27% in pre-market trading after the company announced a significant clinical milestone. This was a patient treated with Namodenoson, their liver cancer drug candidate, who achieved a 9-year survival with a complete response in a Phase II study. That kind of news, a true clinical breakthrough, completely overrides bearish technical signals for a day.

Still, the market also reacted to necessary, but painful, corporate actions. To maintain its listing and improve its capital structure, the company announced a plan in October 2025 to increase its authorized share capital by 22 billion shares and execute a massive 1:3000 reverse stock split. The reverse split is a red flag for many investors, often leading to selling pressure as it signals the stock price has fallen too low, but it was a clear action to avoid delisting. This volatility is the cost of entry here. If you want to dive deeper into the financial mechanics, check out Breaking Down Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (CANF) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Analyst Perspectives and Price Targets

The bullish analyst perspective is the main reason why many long-term investors are still holding on. Wall Street analysts have a consensus rating of either Moderate Buy or Strong Buy. The average 12-month price target across covering analysts is between $6.75 and $10.50. This range implies a staggering upside potential, with some forecasts suggesting a 1,675.85% increase from the recent stock price of around $0.38.

What this estimate hides is the binary nature of biotech investing. Analysts like Jason Kolbert from D. Boral Capital, who maintained a Buy rating with an $11.00 price target as recently as November 18, 2025, are basing their valuation on the successful commercialization of the drug pipeline, especially Namodenoson and Piclidenoson. Swayampakula Ramakanth at HC Wainwright & Co. also initiated coverage with a Buy rating in early November 2025. They are looking past the current net loss, which increased to $4.87 million in the first half of 2025, and focusing on the potential for blockbuster sales.

Here is a snapshot of the recent analyst activity and the implied opportunity:

The huge difference in price targets-from a low of $2.50 to a high of $18.00-shows how analysts are weighing the probability of success for the Phase III trials. The key action for you is to understand that the analyst perspective is a vote of confidence in the science, not the current financials. This is a bet on the clinical data, pure and simple.