New Survey on Company Stock in 401(k) Plans

A new survey by Pension Forum reported in the September 1997 issue of Institutional Investor reports that 39% of the responding companies provide their entire match to employee 401(k) plan deferrals in the form of company stock. Another 12.8% match partially in company stock. The survey was sent to 800 large corporate plan sponsors. Company stock is an investment choice for participants in 61.8% of the plans. In 18.3% of the companies, company stock represents half or more of the entire assets of the plan, while in 35.8% it represents 21% to 49%. The stock has generally performed well, exceeding appropriate benchmarks in 46% of the cases and doing as well in 15%.