Aflac: Q4 Earnings Snapshot

COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) — COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) — Aflac Inc. (AFL) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter net income of $268 million, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier.

The Columbus, Georgia-based company said it had profit of 46 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for investment costs and pretax expenses, were $1.25 per share.

The results missed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.47 per share.

The insurer posted revenue of $3.78 billion in the period, also falling short of Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $4.44 billion.

Aflac shares have risen slightly more than 2% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has increased almost 2%. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $84.49, a rise of 15% in the last 12 months.

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