The stock that matters most to hedge funds is surging after the company said it's in deal talks

Hedge funds' favorite stock, drugmaker Allergan, has confirmed that it has been approached by Pfizer about possibly merging to form the world's biggest pharma company.

Allergan's stock is up on the news. The share price was last up about $23.80, or an increase of 8.29%, at $311.

The Botox maker said that it is in "preliminary friendly discussions" and no agreement has been reached.

Allergan was recently ranked No. 1 on Goldman Sachs' "VIP" list of stocks that "matter most" to hedge funds.

According to Goldman, 97 of the major hedge funds they track owned Allergan's stock in the second quarter ended June 30. Of those funds, 67 had Allergan as one of its top 10 holdings.

A number of fund managers have brought up the stock in investor updates recently.

Hedge fund billionaire Larry Robbins of Glenview Capital wrote in a recent investor that his Allergan position was a "consolidation play."

Leon Cooperman of Omega Advisors said on a call last week that it was one of his fund's "winners." Allergan is Omega's third biggest holding.

Lone Pine's Stephen Mandel said in his latest investor letter that even without acquisitions he thought Allergan's earnings could grow at double-digit rates.

Here's a rundown of some of the big hedge funds who own the stock, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. (Note: This data is from the second quarter ended June 30. These funds could have bought or sold shares since that time.)

• Paulson & Co. (John Paulson): 7.17 million shares (added 1.53 million shares in Q2)
• Viking Global (Andreas Halvorsen): 6.8 million shares (added 698,498 shares in Q2)
• Oz Management: 3.67 million shares (added 13,838 shares in Q2)
• Third Point (Daniel Loeb): 3.3 million shares (sold 275,000 shares in Q2)
• Lone Pine Capital (Stephen Mandel): 2.29 million shares (added 465,652 in Q2)
• Senator Investment Group: 2 million shares (added 300,000 in Q2)
• Glenview Capital (Larry Robbins): 1.98 million shares
• Jana Partners (Barry Rosenstein): 1.61 million shares (sold 3,467 shares)
• First Eagle: 1.54 million shares (sold 27,248 in Q2)
• Corvex Management (Keith Meister): 1.54 million shares (added 205,000 in Q2)
• Fir Tree: 1.45 million shares (added 191,188 shares in Q2)
• Blue Ridge Capital (John Griffin): 1.46 million shares
• Maverick Capital: 1.45 million shares (added 1.43 million in Q2)
• Sachem Head Capital: 975,000 shares (added 175,000 in Q2)
• Columbus Circle: 925,671 shares (added 23,684 in Q2)
• Omega Advisors (Leon Cooperman): 922,375 shares (sold 11,100 in Q2)
• Discovery Capital (Rob Citrone): 921,093 shares (sold 19,125 in Q2)
• Farallon: 919,284 shares (sold 66,000 in Q2)
• York Capital (Jamie Dinan): 861,560 shares (sold 665,651 in Q2)
• Hoplite Capital: 848,762 shares (sold 25,968 in Q2)
• Alkeon Capital Management: 781,000 shares (added 62,000 in Q2)