TORONTO -- Improved profits at Royal Bank of Canada during the second quarter helped drive its stock price to an all-time high on Thursday.

RBC's shares (TSX:RY) briefly touched $75.94 in morning trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, after the bank reported that its net income grew 15 per cent during the three-month period, helped by record earnings in its wealth management segment, Canadian banking and other key divisions.

Later in the session, Royal Bank shares were at $75.58, up 1.7 per cent or $1.29 from the previous close and above the previous 52-week high of $74.29.

For the quarter, Royal Bank profits reached $2.2 billion, or $1.47 per share, from $1.9 billion or $1.25 a share in the same period a year ago.

Cash diluted earnings per share were $1.49, beating analyst's estimates by five cents a share, according to data from Thomson Reuters.

"We continue to focus on achieving the right balance between driving volume growth and maintaining strong margins in order to deliver profitable earnings," said incoming CEO Dave McKay, who will officially take over from Gord Nixon in August, in a conference call.

Growth in Royal Bank's wealth management operations continued in the quarter, rising 25 per cent to $278 million from a year earlier.

Profits in the capital markets segment increased 32 per cent to $507 million compared to last year, largely due to strong trading results and growth in its U.S. loan book.

Net income from RBC's Canadian banking segment, its biggest operation, was net income of $1.11 billion, up $86 million or eight per cent from last year, largely due to growth across most businesses and lower provisions for credit losses. The overall personal and commercial banking division including Canadian banking was $1.11 billion, up $76 million or seven per cent.

Excluding certain items, Royal Bank had an adjusted net income of $1.94 billion, up 13 per cent, and adjusted earnings per share was up 20 cents from $1.27 year-over-year.

After delivering several consecutive quarters of growth, some analysts have questioned whether Royal Bank can maintain the momentum in the face of widespread challenges in lending growth for domestic mortgages and higher consumer debt levels.

McKay outlined some of the bank's priorities on the conference call.

"We're not interested in mass-market banking through a bricks and mortar model," he said.

"Nothing is imminent from an acquisition perspective. We have a very strong franchise and remain focused on executing our current strategy."

While most of the banking segments showed growth, Royal Bank's insurance division posted lower net income of $154 million, down $10 million or six per cent year-over-year.

RBC had a return on common equity of 19.1 per cent in the quarter ended April 30, up from 18.7 per cent year-over-year.

Barclays analyst John Aiken said RBC provided a solid start to the earnings season for the big banks.

"The beat against expectations largely came from provisions for credit losses that continue to defy expectations," Aiken said in a research note.

"We estimate that the better than anticipated credit added approximately $0.04 per share to earnings. While the market has typically shaken this off, it is hard to continue to deny the trend, despite our belief that credit will have to turn at some point," Aiken wrote.

TD Bank (TSX:TD) was the other big Canadian bank to report second-quarter financial results on Thursday, with its net income rising to $1.98 billion, u from $1.71 billion a year before.

The other big banks are scheduled to issue results next week.

Royal Bank is the country's largest bank by assets and market capitalization and has 79,000 employees serving more than 15 million clients. The bank has operations across North America and in 44 other countries.