ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — AvalonBay Communities Inc. (AVB) on Wednesday reported a key measure of profitability in its fourth quarter. The results beat Wall Street expectations.

The real estate investment trust, based in Arlington, Virginia, said it had funds from operations of $404.1 million, or $2.85 per share, in the period.

The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of $2.84 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 $164.7 million, or $1.17 per share.

The apartment building owner posted revenue of $767.9 million in the period, falling short of Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $768.3 million.

For the year, the company reported funds from operations of $1.61 billion, or $11.24 per share. Revenue was reported as $3.04 billion.

The company’s shares have declined roughly 2% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P’s 500 index has increased 0.5%. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $177.81, a decline of 19% 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 AVB at https://www.zacks.com/ap/AVB