DEFIANCE, Ohio (AP) _ Premier Financial Corp. (PFC) on Thursday reported second-quarter earnings of $31.4 million.

The bank, based in Defiance, Ohio, said it had earnings of 84 cents per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 79 cents per share.

The holding company for First Federal Bank of the Midwest posted revenue of $78.4 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $74.2 million, which did not meet Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $76.3 million.

Premier Financial shares have increased 19% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $27.34, a rise of 51% 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 PFC at https://www.zacks.com/ap/PFC

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