Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) reported second-quarter earnings Wednesday that soundly topped expectations, helped by an increase in stock trading revenues and profits from its wealth management business.
Earnings per share were 87 cents vs. the 76 cents expected by a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate.
Revenue came in at $9.50 billion vs. the $9.09-billion estimate.
Morgan Stanley's markets revenue held up better than other big banks that reported this quarter.
Equity sales and trading net revenues increased by $100 million to $2.2 billion, little changed from a year ago but up 7% from the first quarter, "reflecting strong contributions across products and regions," Morgan Stanley said in a statement.
Overall sales and trading revenue decreased by $100 million, or 2%, from a year ago, to $3.2 billion. Bond trading revenue fell $100 million, or 4%, to $1.2 billion in the second quarter. Fixed income trading revenue was $1.7 billion in the first quarter.
In the second quarter of 2016, MS reported earnings per share of 75 cents on revenue of $8.9 billion.
Morgan Stanley said it plans to declare a 25-cent quarterly dividend in the third quarter, an increase of five cents. The bank also said it will increase share repurchases from $3.5 billion to up to $5 billion of outstanding common stock for the four quarters, also beginning in the third quarter.
Shares of Morgan Stanley are up about 7% for the year. They opened Wednesday higher by $1.50, or 3.5%, to $46.74
