JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) _ Regency Centers Corp. (REG) on Wednesday reported a key measure of profitability in its fourth quarter. The results beat Wall Street expectations.

The Jacksonville, Florida-based real estate investment trust said it had funds from operations of $168.5 million, or $1 per share, in the period.

The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of 98 cents per share.

Funds from operations is a closely watched measure in the REIT industry. It takes net income and adds back items such as depreciation and amortization.

The company said it had net income of $40.3 million, or 24 cents per share.

The shopping center real estate investment trust posted revenue of $288.7 million in the period. Its adjusted revenue was $280.9 million, which missed Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $284.7 million.

For the year, the company reported funds from operations of $654.4 million, or $3.89 per share. Revenue was reported as $1.1 billion.

Regency Centers expects full-year funds from operations to be $3.90 to $3.93 per share.

The company's shares have decreased 1% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $62.31, a fall of almost 5% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on REG at https://www.zacks.com/ap/REG

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News