Companies’ U.S. pension plans are more overfunded than they have been in years amid strong equity markets.

Those surpluses will likely go up further if long-term corporate bond yields continue to rise, as many of these plans use those yields to value their liabilities. That could prompt finance chiefs to revise their pension strategies.

An estimated 40 of the largest 100 U.S. pension plans were funded at 100% or more in 2021, the most since 2007, and up from 16 in 2020 and 13 in 2019, according to data from advisory firm Willis Towers Watson PLC. The 40 plans, all of them defined-benefit plans that promise fixed payouts to retirees, were overfunded by a total of $45.49 billion last year, up from $22.58 billion among the overfunded 16 plans in 2020, Willis Towers said.

Long-term corporate bond yields, also known as discount rates in the pension world, increased to 2.76% at the end of 2021 from 2.32% at the end of 2020, according to asset manager Mercer LLC’s calculation of what it calls typical discount rates for pensions. The move up in those yields came amid higher inflation and expectations the Federal Reserve would start moving away from its pandemic stimulus and near-zero policy rate.

Discount rates are forecast to continue their upward climb this year, which would push up funding levels even more, as the Federal Reserve signals its intention to raise interest rates. Higher interest rates mean companies need to set aside less in the way of assets to fully fund pension obligations because the present value of future payments shrinks.

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