Regional bank operator PNC Financial Services Group Inc. said Thursday that its third-quarter income nearly doubled as it set aside sharply less money to cover bad loans.

Chairman and CEO James E. Rohr also said PNC saw “significant sales momentum” across the franchise in the quarter as it continued to add clients.

For the three months ended Sept. 30, the company earned $1.09 billion, or $2.07 per share. That compared with $467 million, or $1 per share, in the year-ago period.

Excluding one-time charges and gains, including on the sale of PNC Global Investment Servicing, net income totaled $1.56 per share. That easily beat Wall Street expectations for profit of $1.36 per share, according to a Thomson Reuters poll.

However, revenue declined to $3.6 billion from $3.85 billion in the prior-year period — missing analysts’ average forecast of $3.8 billion. Net interest income, or the money the bank receives from interest on loans minus what it pays out on deposits, declined $220 million to $2.2 billion. The company cited fewer loan sales given tighter credit standards, continued soft loan demand and the low interest rate environment.

Noninterest income, or the cash banks make from mortgage loan service fees and other fees and charges, slipped by $94 million to $1.4 billion.

But the drop in revenue was offset by a sharp decline in the provision for credit losses. The company set aside $486 million in the quarter for loan losses, down from $914 million the year before as fewer borrowers defaulted on their loans. Net charge-offs — the loans banks write off as uncollectable after three months — improved to 1.61 percent of loans in the quarter, from 2.18 percent the previous quarter.

Loans 30 days or more past due decreased to $1.4 billion at Sept. 30 from $1.9 billion at June 30.

Shares of PNC Financial were up $1.22, or about 2.3 percent, at $53.96 in early afternoon trading.