CHICAGO (AP) _ Equity Residential (EQR) on Tuesday reported a key measure of profitability in its fourth quarter. The results beat Wall Street expectations.

The Chicago-based real estate investment trust said it had funds from operations of $320.2 million, or 82 cents per share, in the period.

The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of 80 cents 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 $526.2 million, or $1.40 per share.

The real estate investment trust posted revenue of $645.1 million in the period, which also beat Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $628.6 million.

For the year, the company reported funds from operations of $1.16 billion, or $2.99 per share. Revenue was reported as $2.46 billion.

For the current quarter ending in April, Equity Residential expects its per-share funds from operations to range from 76 cents to 80 cents.

The company expects full-year funds from operations in the range of $3.40 to $3.50 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 EQR at https://www.zacks.com/ap/EQR

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