COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) _ Aflac Inc. (AFL) on Wednesday reported first-quarter net income of $566 million.

On a per-share basis, the Columbus, Georgia-based company said it had profit of 78 cents. Earnings, adjusted for investment costs, came to $1.21 per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.11 per share.

The insurer posted revenue of $5.16 billion in the period, missing Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $5.5 billion.

Aflac shares have declined 26% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has fallen 9%. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $39.34, a decline of 21% 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 AFL at https://www.zacks.com/ap/AFL

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News