FOLSOM, N.J. (AP) _ South Jersey Industries Inc. (SJI) on Wednesday reported first-quarter profit of $128.6 million.

The Folsom, New Jersey-based company said it had profit of $1.26 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.19 per share.

The energy services holding company posted revenue of $674.3 million in the period, also surpassing Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $557.2 million.

South Jersey Industries shares have climbed 17% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $25.19, a decrease of 5.5% 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 SJI at https://www.zacks.com/ap/SJI

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