Voya Financial’s VOYA fourth-quarter 2020 normalized adjusted operating earnings of $1.44 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.7%. Moreover, the bottom line increased 21% year over year. The results reflect solid performance in Retirement and Investment Management, partially offset by soft performance at Employee Benefits segment.Full-year 2020 normalized adjusted operating earnings of $4.81 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.75. The bottom line increased 14% year over year.Quarterly HighlightsTotal revenues improved 44.2% year over year to $398 million. Moreover, the top line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 59.2%.Net investment income increased 12.2% to $825 million in the quarter.Fee income increased 7.8% year over year to $550 million. Premiums rose 7.4% to $597 million.Total benefits and expenses decreased 0.1% year over year to $1.7 billion due to lower operating expenses, lower interest expense, net amortization of DAC/VOBA and interest credited and other benefits to contract owners/policyholders.Assets under management and administration were $700 billion as of Dec 31, 2020.Voya Financial, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Voya Financial, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Voya Financial, Inc. QuoteSegmental UpdateRetirement’s adjusted operating earnings of $258 million increased 59.3% year over year driven by favorable DAC/VOBA and other intangibles unlocking, higher fee-based margin and higher investment income, partially offset by higher administrative expenses.Investment Management posted adjusted operating earnings of $90 million, up 52.5% year over year due to increased fee-based margin, and increased investment capital revenues, partially offset by higher administrative expenses.Employee Benefits’ adjusted operating earnings were $50 million, down 9.1% year over year attributable to lower underwriting results and higher administrative expenses. Higher investment income limited the downside.Corporate incurred adjusted operating losses of $94 million, narrower than the year-ago quarterly loss of $98 million, owing to lower intangibles amortization.Financial UpdateAs of Dec 31, 2020, cash and cash equivalents were $1.5 billion, up 27.2% year over year.As of Dec 31, 2020, total investments were $56.9 billion, up 5.9% year over year.At 2020 end, long-term debt was $3 billion, up 0.03% from 2019 end.Adjusted debt to capital improved 270 basis points to 27.9% from 2019 end.As of Sep 30, 2020, book value per share (excluding AOCI) was $37.71, down 7.6% from 2019 end.Voya Financial exited 2020 with $1.8 billion in excess capital.Estimated combined RBC ratio was 498% as on Dec 31, 2020.Share Buyback UpdateVoya repurchased $526 million worth shares in 2020. The board of directors also approved $1 billion share buyback program for 2021. Voya currently has about $1.1 billion remaining under its share repurchase authorization.2021 GuidanceVoya estimates normalized adjusted operating earnings per share to grow 8-12%.Zacks RankVoya Financial currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.Performance of Other Life InsurersFourth-quarter earnings of Reinsurance Group of America RGA beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate while that of Lincoln Financial LNC and Primerica PRI missed the same.Just Released: Zacks’ 7 Best Stocks for TodayExperts extracted 7 stocks from the list of 220 Zacks Rank #1 Strong Buys that has beaten the market more than 2X over with a stunning average gain of +24.9% per year.These 7 were selected because of their superior potential for immediate breakout.See these time-sensitive tickers now >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Lincoln National Corporation (LNC): Free Stock Analysis Report Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (RGA): Get Free Report Primerica, Inc. (PRI): Free Stock Analysis Report Voya Financial, Inc. (VOYA): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research