CHICAGO (AP) _ Ventas Inc. (VTR) on Thursday reported a key measure of profitability in its fourth quarter. The results topped Wall Street expectations.

The Chicago-based real estate investment trust said it had funds from operations of $312.6 million, or 83 cents per share, in the period.

The average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of 73 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 $110.5 million, or 29 cents per share.

The seniors housing real estate investment trust posted revenue of $921.2 million in the period, missing Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $925 million.

For the year, the company reported funds from operations of $1.25 billion, or $3.32 per share. Revenue was reported as $3.8 billion.

For the current quarter ending in April, Ventas expects its per-share funds from operations to range from 66 cents to 71 cents.

The company's shares have increased slightly more than 3% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased nearly 5%.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on VTR at https://www.zacks.com/ap/VTR

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