STUART, Fla. (AP) _ Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida (SBCF) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter profit of $27.2 million.

The Stuart, Florida-based bank said it had earnings of 52 cents per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 50 cents per share.

The holding company for Seacoast National Bank posted revenue of $88.7 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $78.1 million, also beating Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $75.3 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $98.7 million, or $1.90 per share. Revenue was reported as $300.4 million.

Seacoast Banking shares have fallen 3.5% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $29.50, a climb of nearly 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 SBCF at https://www.zacks.com/ap/SBCF

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News