COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) _ Aflac Inc. (AFL) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter profit of $185 million.

On a per-share basis, the Columbus, Georgia-based company said it had net income of 30 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to $1.29 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.21 per share.

The insurer posted revenue of $4.01 billion in the period, missing Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $4.49 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $4.2 billion, or $6.59 per share. Revenue was reported as $19.5 billion.

Aflac shares have increased almost 2% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has increased slightly more than 7%. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $73.28, an increase of 17% 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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