PEMBROKE, Bermuda (AP) _ Axis Capital Holdings Ltd. (AXS) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $48.5 million.

The Pembroke, Bermuda-based company said it had profit of 48 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for investment costs, were $1.95 per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.70 per share.

The insurance company posted revenue of $1.45 billion in the period. Its adjusted revenue was $1.49 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $223.1 million, or $2.25 per share. Revenue was reported as $5.59 billion.

Axis Capital shares have climbed 9% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $59.13, a rise of slightly more than 5% 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 AXS at https://www.zacks.com/ap/AXS

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