EastGroup Properties: 4Q Earnings Snapshot

RIDGELAND, Miss. (AP) _ EastGroup Properties Inc. (EGP) on Tuesday reported a key measure of profitability in its fourth quarter. The results beat Wall Street expectations.

The Ridgeland, Mississippi-based real estate investment trust said it had funds from operations of $54.7 million, or $1.38 per share, in the period.

The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of $1.37 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 $37.2 million, or 94 cents per share.

The real estate investment trust posted revenue of $92.7 million in the period, which met Street forecasts.

For the year, the company reported funds from operations of $211.4 million, or $5.38 per share. Revenue was reported as $363 million.

EastGroup Properties expects full-year funds from operations to be $5.63 to $5.73 per share.

The company's shares have increased slightly more than 5% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Tuesday, shares hit $145.51, a climb of slightly more than 4% 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 EGP at https://www.zacks.com/ap/EGP