NEW YORK (AP) _ Assurant Inc. (AIZ) on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter profit of $123.6 million.

On a per-share basis, the New York-based company said it had profit of $2.14. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs and to account for discontinued operations, came to $2.47 per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $2.30 per share.

The insurer posted revenue of $2.57 billion in the period, matching Street forecasts.

Assurant shares have increased slightly since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has climbed 20%. In the final minutes of trading on Tuesday, shares hit $156.04, a rise of 15% 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 AIZ at https://www.zacks.com/ap/AIZ

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