CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Albemarle Corp. (ALB) on Wednesday reported first-quarter net income of $319.1 million, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said it had net income of $2.34. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to $2.95 per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.24 per share.

The specialty chemicals company posted revenue of $1.43 billion in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.33 billion.

Albemarle shares have increased 36% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $192.61, more than tripling 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 ALB at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ALB