ATLANTA (AP) _ Piedmont Office Realty Trust Inc. (PDM) on Wednesday reported a key measure of profitability in its first quarter. The results surpassed Wall Street expectations.

The real estate investment trust, based in Atlanta, said it had funds from operations of $37.9 million, or 48 cents per share, in the period.

The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of 47 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 $9.3 million, or 8 cents per share.

The commercial real estate investment trust posted revenue of $129.3 million in the period.

Piedmont Office expects full-year funds from operations in the range of $1.86 to $1.96 per share.

The company's shares have risen 14% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $18.52, a rise of roughly 8% 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 PDM at https://www.zacks.com/ap/PDM

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