Which pharmas win the hedge-fund popularity contest?

You know the proverb: A man is known by the company he keeps. Well, a company can be known by the company it keeps, too. At least that's the hypothesis behind Insider Monkey's look at hedge-fund investment in the drug business. The more hedge funds are interested in a pharma stock, the better.

So, who wins the hedge-fund popularity contest? Pfizer ($PFE), by a long shot. Seventy-four funds owned Pfizer stock at the end of September, with Ken Fisher's Fisher Asset Management the biggest player at 22 million shares, the hedge fund data service found. Second in line was Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) with 57 funds invested; Berkshire had the top position with 37 million shares. Both companies delivered double-digit returns over 52 weeks, at 28% and 10% respectively.

Rounding out the top 5 were Sanofi ($SNY), with 49 hedge funds invested; Valeant Pharmaceuticals ($VRX), with 45; and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries ($TEVA) with 43. As Insider Monkey notes, Teva shares were the only losers on the top 10 list. The stock dropped by 20% over 52 weeks. By contrast--big contrast--Valeant's stock grew by 64% last year.

Which other Big Pharmas made the list? We'll let you check.

- get the ranking from Insider Monkey