RIDGELAND, Miss. (AP) — RIDGELAND, Miss. (AP) — EastGroup Properties Inc. (EGP) on Tuesday reported a key measure of profitability in its fourth quarter. The results beat Wall Street expectations.

The Ridgeland, Mississippi-based real estate investment trust said it had funds from operations of $79.3 million, or $1.82 per share, in the period.

The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of $1.77 per share.

Funds from operations is a closely watched measure in the REIT industry. It takes net income and adds back items such as depreciation and amortization.

The company said it had net income of $38.7 million, or 89 cents per share.

The real estate investment trust posted revenue of $129.8 million in the period, which also beat Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $128 million.

For the year, the company reported funds from operations of $298.9 million, or $7 per share. Revenue was reported as $487 million.

For the current quarter ending in March, EastGroup Properties expects its per-share funds from operations to range from $1.75 to $1.83.

The company expects full-year funds from operations in the range of $7.30 to $7.50 per share.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on EGP at https://www.zacks.com/ap/EGP

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