HmmmShares of bedraggled Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. have gotten a boost from an upgrade from Ladenburg Thalmann analyst Richard Bove, who now recommends buying shares of the brokerage in part due to expectations of some kind of takeover.

The stock, which hit a low of $12.54 a share earlier in the day, was lately at $13.28, still down 3.3% for the session. The company’s credit-default swaps, a measure of the cost of insuring against default, widened this week on more concerns about the company’s capital base and the possibility of asset sales.

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Lehman shares rebounded after an upgrade.

This issue was alluded to by Mr. Bove to in his previous report on Lehman on Aug. 6, when he said he sensed that “Lehman feels a need to take action now to stop, for once and, hopefully, for all, the constant stories and rumors swirling around the company.” If that was the case then, whatever Lehman has done is not enough, as those concerns have not dissipated.

“He can say it’s a takeover candidate, but why? I don’t see why you’d buy this company,” says Bennett Sedacca, president of Atlantic Advisors.

Mr. Bove has been active in shifting his rating on the company in the past, this being the fifth time in 2008 he has changed his recommendation on Lehman. He held a “neutral” rating since June 17, when shares were at $25.14. That followed a short-lived sell rating put on Lehman on May 22 with shares at $38.50, after casting aside a neutral rating on May 5.