Voya Financial

Voya's retirement business now oversees 878 billion dollars for 10.3 million workers, up 12 percent from a year ago. That money arrives automatically through payroll, so it keeps coming whether markets are up or down. Retirement profit rose to 266 million dollars this quarter, and revenue there grew 6 percent over the past year.

Voya is raising its dividend 21 percent to 57 cents a share each quarter and added 500 million dollars to its stock buyback budget. It generated about 225 million dollars of spare cash this quarter, turning more than 90 percent of its profit into money it can hand back. The workplace health unit is healing too, with profit margins jumping to 11.4 percent from 6 percent.

Take away the stock buybacks and Voya's core profit barely moved, 240 million dollars this quarter versus 239 million a year ago. The money management arm earned 58 million dollars, down from 62 million. The company also spent 25 million dollars on severance to cut costs.

This is a steady business, not a fast one. Total revenue grew just 1.2 percent last year and profit margins sit near 7.5 percent, which is slim for a financial company. The workplace benefits unit is shrinking on purpose, with yearly premiums of 3.5 billion dollars now below last year's as Voya picks profit over size.