BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) _ Regions Financial Corp. (RF) on Friday reported fourth-quarter profit of $616 million.

The Birmingham, Alabama-based bank said it had earnings of 61 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to 62 cents per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 42 cents per share.

The holding company for Regions Bank posted revenue of $1.74 billion in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $1.69 billion, also beating Street forecasts. Eight analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.55 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $1.09 billion, or $1.03 per share. Revenue was reported as $6.29 billion.

Regions Financial shares have increased 10% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen almost 3%. The stock has risen 9.5% 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 RF at https://www.zacks.com/ap/RF

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