COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) _ Aflac Inc. (AFL) on Wednesday reported second-quarter earnings of $1.11 billion.

On a per-share basis, the Columbus, Georgia-based company said it had net income of $1.62. Earnings, adjusted for investment gains, were $1.59 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.27 per share.

The insurer posted revenue of $5.56 billion in the period.

Aflac shares have climbed 21% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has climbed 17%. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $53.79, a climb of 48% 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

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