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Analyst ups target price
for Pacific Century stock

Star-Bulletin staff

An analyst at Salomon Smith Barney Inc. says shares of Pacific Century Financial Corp. should rise to $25 within a year.

Analyst Brock Vandervliet on Friday raised his one-year target price for the parent of Bank of Hawaii from his previous estimate of $20 and lifted his recommendation to "buy" from "neutral."

The share price fell 50 cents at $18.37-1/2 on the New York Stock Exchange today. However it has risen substantially from its 52-week closing low of 14.62-1/2 on March 1. The 52-week high was $23.12-1/2 on Nov. 5.

At the end of February, Warburg Dillon Read Inc. analyst Jennifer Thompson also rated the stock as a buy.

Of the 12 Wall Street analysts who follow Pacific Century, eight rate the stock a hold and four recommend buying.

In September, the company announced a restructuring that included cutting 1,015 positions, with 266 layoffs, as it tried to cut costs, increase revenues and boost shareholder value.