In this piece, we will take a look at the 15 biggest companies that offer pensions. For more companies, head on over to 5 Biggest Companies That Offer Pensions.
Working for a large company comes with several benefits that are sought by those seeking stability, prestige, and career growth. One such benefit is a pension or retirement plan, which guarantees a worker an income after retiring. This rewards the worker for their loyalty to the company and ensures that they do not have to look for employment in old age after spending the best years of their life at a specific firm.
There are several different kinds of retirement plans that large companies offer their employees. According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), these include Individual Retirement Agreements (IRAs), 401(k) plans, SIMPLE 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, and Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) among others. Another type of pension plan is the Salary Reduction Simplified Employee Pension (SARSEP). A key difference between a pension plan and a 401(k) plan is the contribution. For a pension, it is the employer who is responsible for contributing to the plan over the course of an individual’s employment, while in a 401(k) plan, it’s the employee who also has to make a contribution to the plan. Over the course of the years, the 401(k) has gained popularity, but sometimes, the employer also offers to match the employee’s contribution to the plan. Another key difference between the two is that pensions generally offer a fixed income for life while a 401(k) plan offers variable income.
How does a pension fund afford to make regular payouts to thousands of former employees? Well, these funds are invested in the stock market, and the return is distributed among the retirees. Pension investments are among the largest on Wall Street, and assets held by the top 300 pension funds touched a whopping $23.6 trillion in September 2022, marking an 8.9% annual growth. This growth comes at a time when stock markets have been hammered by soaring inflation and aggressive interest rate hikes. The U.S. has the highest percentage of assets under management (AUM) for pension funds all over the globe, as it accounts for 39.6% of the top 300 funds’ AUM. North America as a whole is also a dominating player, as it accounts for close to half of the total assets.
In terms of benefits distributions, public sector retirement plans distributed $323 billion annually in 2021, and a total of roughly 6,000 plans were present in the U.S. Out of these, the vast majority were made up of locally administered plans, and some even date back to the 19th century according to the Census Bureau.
While pension plans are becoming less popular, some of the world’s largest firms continue to have them, with notable examples being Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK-A), and Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco).
Photo by Esther Tuttle on Unsplash
Our Methodology
We took a look at dozens of companies that still have pension plans, following which they were ranked according to their market capitalization.
15 Biggest Companies That Offer Pensions
15. Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)
Market Capitalization as of December 22, 2022: $172 billion
Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) is an Irish consulting services firm that is headquartered in Dublin. The firm caters to the needs of a variety of different industries and business segments such as supply chain management and finance. It also offers a defined benefits pension plan, with total non current pension and retirement plan liabilities sitting at $1.6 billion in 2021.
58 of 920 hedge funds part of Insider Monkey’s third quarter of 2022 survey had bought Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)’s shares.
Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)’s largest investor in our database is Nicolai Tangen’s Ako Capital which owns 1.9 million shares that are worth $500 million.
14. Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)
Market Capitalization as of December 22, 2022: $186 billion
Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) is a healthcare firm that is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois. The firm operates all over the globe and sells pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and diagnostic kits. The company offers both a pension plan and a 401(k) retirement plan, and its long term employee benefits were worth $2.7 billion as of 2021.
Insider Monkey’s Q3 2022 survey of 920 hedge funds revealed that 62 had bought Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)’s shares.
Out of these, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management is Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)’s largest shareholder. It owns 9.1 million shares that are worth $883 million.
13. Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)
Market Capitalization as of December 22, 2022: $197.98 billion
Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) is one of the world’s largest oil companies. The firm is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom and it explores, produces, and sells both crude oil and refined products at the gas pump. Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) lists its employee benefit plans under long term assets on the balance sheet, and these were worth $8.4 billion as of 2021 end. It offers two kinds of plans, the 80 Point and Accumulated Percentage Formula (APF) plans.
By the end of this year’s third quarter, 39 of the 920 hedge funds polled by Insider Monkey had bought Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)’s shares.
Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)’s largest investor in our database is Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management which owns 20 million shares that are worth $1 billion.
12. Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)
Market Capitalization as of December 22, 2022: $202 billion
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) is an American company that operates supermarkets. It has facilities all over the globe in countries such as Iceland, France, Spain, Australia, and of course, the U.S. While the company only offers a 401(k) plan, it also matches employee contributions to the plan, emulating a key feature of pensions. However, its balance sheet does not specifically mention these plans.
Insider Monkey took a look at 920 hedge funds for their third quarter of 2022 investments to discover that 69 had bought Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)’s shares.
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)’s largest shareholder is Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management which owns 2.5 million shares that are worth $1.2 billion.
11. PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP)
Market Capitalization as of December 22, 2022: $247 billion
PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) is a food and beverages company that is headquartered in Purchase, New York, the United States. The firm offers a pension plan that is dubbed the PepsiCo Pension Equalization Plan (PEP) – a rather interesting play of words on its stock ticker. The firm’s balance sheet does not list pensions.
72 of the 920 hedge funds polled by Insider Monkey during this year’s third quarter had held a stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP).
PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP)’s largest shareholder is Terry Smith’s Fundsmith LLP which owns 7.1 million shares that are worth $1.1 billion.
10. Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC)
Market Capitalization as of December 22, 2022: $256.9 billion
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) is one of the largest banks in the world in terms of assets and among the top five largest American banks. It offers both a defined contribution and a defined benefit plan. As of 2021, the firm had a whopping $3.1 trillion in total assets.
Insider Monkey studied 920 hedge fund holdings for 2022’s September quarter and discovered that 97 had bought Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC)’s shares.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC)’s largest investor is Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway which owns 1 billion shares that are worth $30 billion.
9. Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)
Market Capitalization as of December 22, 2022: $281 billion
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is a pharmaceutical giant that was set up in 1891 and is headquartered in Kenilworth, New Jersey. The company offers treatments for a wide variety of diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and heart problems. The firm offers both 401(k) plans and defined benefit plans to its American employees.
Insider Monkey surveyed 920 hedge funds for their third quarter of 2022 investments to discover that 82 had bought Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)’s shares.
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)’s largest investor is Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management which owns 12 million shares that are worth $1 billion.
8. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)
Market Capitalization as of December 22, 2022: $286.6 billion
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) is an American pharmaceutical firm that makes and sells pharmaceuticals and vaccines. The firm also manufactures medicines for other companies as a contract manufacturer. The company offers a defined benefit pension plan to its employees, and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)’s contributions are paid into a trust fund. It had $3.7 billion of noncurrent pension liabilities in 2021.
By the end of Q3 2022, 77 of the 920 hedge funds polled by Insider Monkey had bought Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)’s shares.
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)’s largest investor in our database is Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management which owns 10.6 million shares that are worth $467 million.
7. Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY)
Market Capitalization as of December 22, 2022: $346 billion
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) is another American pharmaceutical behemoth. The firm was set up in 1876 and it is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The company offers treatment for diabetes, cancer, arthritis, mental illnesses, and other diseases. Its balance sheet lists $1.9 billion in employee pension liabilities.
Out of the 920 hedge funds polled by Insider Monkey, 75 had bought Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY)’s shares during 2022’s third quarter.
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY)’s largest shareholder in our database is Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management which owns 3.9 million shares that are worth $1.2 billion.
6. The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)
Market Capitalization as of December 22, 2022: $359 billion
The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) is an American consumer packaged goods company that is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. The firm sells a wide variety of products such as health care, baby care, and personal grooming. It also provides defined benefit pension plans to employees, with total pension liabilities sitting at $3.8 billion by 2021 end.
Insider Monkey studied 920 hedge fund holdings for Q3 2022 to discover that 69 had held a stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG).
Out of these hedge funds, Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates is The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)’s largest shareholder. It owns 6.6 million shares that are worth $835 million.
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Disclosure: None. 15 Biggest Companies That Offer Pensions is originally published on Insider Monkey.
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