GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) _ Associated Banc-Corp (ASB) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter net income of $76.9 million.

The bank, based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, said it had earnings of 49 cents per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 42 cents per share.

The bank holding company posted revenue of $283.2 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $272.7 million, also beating Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $266.1 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $351 million, or $2.18 per share. Revenue was reported as $1.08 billion.

Associated Banc-Corp shares have risen slightly more than 5% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $23.81, an increase of 20% 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 ASB at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ASB

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