DENVER (AP) _ Western Union Co. (WU) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter profit of $168.8 million.

On a per-share basis, the Denver-based company said it had profit of 42 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 64 cents per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 53 cents per share.

The money transfer company posted revenue of $1.28 billion in the period, which fell short of Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.3 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $805.8 million, or $1.97 per share. Revenue was reported as $5.07 billion.

Western Union expects full-year earnings in the range of $1.90 to $2 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 WU at https://www.zacks.com/ap/WU

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