TUPELO, Miss. (AP) _ BancorpSouth Bank (BXS) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter net income of $65.8 million.

The Tupelo, Mississippi-based bank said it had earnings of 63 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 65 cents per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 60 cents per share.

The bank posted revenue of $278.5 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $245.5 million, also exceeding Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $242.6 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $234.3 million, or $2.30 per share. Revenue was reported as $930.6 million.

BancorpSouth shares have decreased roughly 4% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $30.24, a climb of slightly more than 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 BXS at https://www.zacks.com/ap/BXS

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News