Fresh off the announcement in September that it would buy Newton-based First Commons Bank, Brookline Bancorp, the holding company of Brookline Bank, reported strong quarterly earnings and did not rule out another acquisition if the opportunity should present itself.

The roughly $6.7 billion asset company reported net income of $15.4 million, or $0.20 per basic and diluted share, for the third quarter of 2017, compared to $13.6 million, or $0.19 per basic and diluted share, for the third quarter of 2016.

Net interest income was $56.8 million during the third quarter of 2017, up about $4.5 million from the third quarter of last year. However, the net interest margin decreased two basis points to 3.57 percent for the three months ended Sept. 30.

“We are pleased to report that Brookline Bancorp maintained its consistent strong performance throughout the third quarter of 2017,” Paul Perrault, president and CEO of the company, said in a statement. “During the quarter, we generated steady growth in loans and deposits. We look forward to our continued success in growing our loans and deposit base organically, and welcoming customers of First Commons Bank to the Brookline family.”

The acquisition of First Commons is valued at roughly $56 million and will add approximately $300 million in assets to Brookline’s balance sheet in the first quarter of 2018 should it receive regulatory approval. It comes on the heels of an $82 million stock offering earlier this year.

When asked if the company is still looking for potential acquisition targets, or out of the market altogether, Perrault was caught in the middle.

“I don’t consider us out of the market but I don’t consider us actively pursuing either,” he told shareholders on a conference call. “First Commons is in markets we are very familiar with. If something appropriate for us came along, we would be willing to take a good hard look.”

Perrault further said that First Commons is toward the smaller end of a potential future acquisition target Brookline would consider, while the company is open to a buy as large as a few billion dollars in assets if it was in a new market.

Brookline executives also addressed the bank’s taxi medallion loan portfolio, an area that shareholders have been interested in over the last few quarters given that taxi medallions have lost value due to competition from ride-sharing services.

Brookline’s CFO Carl Carlson said that out of the bank’s roughly $40 million of total nonaccrual loans and leases, there were about $15.1 million in taxi loans. According to the bank’s earnings statement, there was $1.3 million in net charge-offs of taxi-medallion loans in the third quarter.

Overall, credit quality remained strong, with the ratio of nonperforming loans and leases to total loans and leases at 0.71 percent, and the ratio of nonperforming assets to total assets at 0.66 percent as of Sept. 30, 2017.

Total loans and leases reached past $5.6 billion, up more than $100 million quarter-over-quarter and more than $300 million year-over-year.

Most loan categories saw increases year-over-year.

Of the housing market, Perrault said there was still strong activity in rentals and home sales, but that there was some stabilization in the rental market, with rent increases not as common as in the past, likely due to an affordability issue.

Perrault also said he was seeing good activity in the equipment financing arena.

“By and large, our view of the economy is it is quite strong,” he said.