The profit was equal to 84 cents a share, compared with 77 cents in the year-earlier period.

The parent company of Bank of Hawaii said its policy of diversifying outside of Hawaii is paying off in better results.

Much of the increase in the fourth-quarter figures came from the inclusion of results from profitable banks in Tahiti and New Caledonia that were acquired in the second quarter of 1996, adding $1 billion to the company's assets.

Performance at those banks has been strong and the company anticipates more expansion in the South and West Pacific, said Lawrence M. Johnson, chairman and chief executive.

For all of last year, Bancorp Hawaii had a profit of $133.1 million, equal to $3.23 a share and 9.3 percent from $121.8 million, or $2.90 a share, in 1995.

The company said it expects soon to conclude the purchase of four Arizona bank branches, with total deposits of more than $250 million.

Johnson said the company will continue to broaden the range of services it offers in Hawaii but will continue to increase its business in non-Hawaii markets.

At the end of 1996, Bancorp Hawaii had total assets of $14 billion, up 6.1 percent from $13.2 billion a year earlier. Loans were up 6.3 percent at $8.3 billion, compared with $7.9 billion at the end of 1995. Deposits of $10.8 billion were up 13.2 percent from $9.5 billion a year earlier.

In addition to Bank of Hawaii, the company owns First Federal Savings and Loan Association, Hawaiian Trust Co., and First National Bank of Arizona.

In a report issued earlier this week, analysts at NatWest Securities Corp. in New York said Bancorp's earnings per share should rise slightly through 1997, even though Hawaii's economic recovery is slow. They expect 1997 earnings of $3.60 a share.

"Hawaii's economic recovery continues to chug along at a very slow pace," said the NatWest report, authored by Thomas D. McCandless and Peter J. Winter. However, they cited a state government estimate of small growth in the economy this year and said that the outlook is a little more optimistic than it has been.