PHOENIX (AP) _ Western Alliance Bancorp (WAL) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $193.6 million.

The Phoenix-based bank said it had earnings of $1.93 per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.38 per share.

The bank holding company posted revenue of $355.4 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $338.6 million, which also beat Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $315.9 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $506.6 million, or $5.04 per share. Revenue was reported as $1.24 billion.

Western Alliance shares have increased 16% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $69.38, an increase of 21% 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 WAL at https://www.zacks.com/ap/WAL

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