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Update: Morgan Stanley Tops Second-Quarter Revenue Views on Investment Banking, Trading Gains

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Update: Morgan Stanley Tops Second-Quarter Revenue Views on Investment Banking, Trading Gains

(Updates to specify revenue beat in the headline.)

Morgan Stanley's (MS) second-quarter revenue surpassed Wall Street's projections, with robust investment banking and trading gains driving the top-line higher year on year.

Revenue surged 27% annually to $21.35 billion, while the FactSet-polled consensus was for $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley reported earnings per share of $3.46 for the June quarter, compared with $2.13 a year earlier.

Revenue in the institutional securities division, which accounted for more than half of the overall top line, rose to $11.04 billion from $7.64 billion in the prior-year period. Within that segment, investment banking revenue jumped 58% to $2.44 billion amid sharp gains in advisory and equity and fixed-income underwriting.

Morgan Stanley was a book-running manager for the record initial public offering of Elon Musk's SpaceX (SPCX) in June.

Equities trading revenue soared 69% to a record $6.3 billion.

"Excellent results in institutional securities were driven by our leading equities franchise with continued momentum in investment banking and fixed income," Chief Executive Ted Pick said in a statement.

On Tuesday, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), Wells Fargo (WFC), Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) all posted strong second-quarter results amid gains in markets revenue and investment banking fees. BofA Securities had expected major US banks to top second-quarter earnings expectations on the back of capital markets activity.

Morgan Stanley's wealth management revenue climbed 14% to $8.86 billion.

"Wealth management added a record $148 billion in net new assets, with total client assets across wealth and investment management reaching the $10 trillion milestone," Pick said in a statement.

Shares of Morgan Stanley rose 1.2% in Wednesday trade. The stock has rallied 30% since the start of the year.

Morgan Stanley declared a quarterly dividend of $1.15 per share, up $0.15 from the previous quarter, payable on Aug. 14.

Price: $229.77, Change: $+2.10, Percent Change: +0.92%

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