KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. (AP) _ Universal Health Services Inc. (UHS) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter profit of $245.2 million.

On a per-share basis, the King Of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based company said it had net income of $2.79.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $2.61 per share.

The hospital and health facility operator posted revenue of $2.9 billion in the period, also surpassing Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.89 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $814.9 million, or $9.13 per share. Revenue was reported as $11.38 billion.

Universal Health Services expects full-year earnings in the range of $10.30 to $11 per share, with revenue in the range of $11.96 billion to $12.12 billion.

Universal Health Services shares have declined nearly 6% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $135.08, a rise of 1% 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 UHS at https://www.zacks.com/ap/UHS

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News