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Cigarette maker Lorillard Inc. ( LO ) on Friday caught some continued bullish commentary from analysts at Jefferies & Co.

The firm maintained its "Buy" rating on LO as well as its $144 price target, which suggests a nearly 12% upside to the stock's Thursday closing price of $129.00.

A Jefferies analyst commented, "LO announced today that it is issuing $500 million of new debt (5 yr notes with a 2.3% coupon) and it is raising its gross debt/EBITDA target from 1.5x to 1.5x-2.0x. We see this as a positive signal as it will most likely lead to a restart of LO's dormant share repurchase program. $500 million of share repurchases could be worth about 1.5% of incremental EPS growth - we had already assumed that the company would access markets in 4Q12."

The analyst also lifted its full-year 2012 earnings estimate for the company from $9.27 per share to $9.34 per share.

Lorillard shares were mostly flat in premarket trading Friday.

The Bottom Line
Shares of Lorillard ( LO ) have a 4.81% dividend yield, based on last night's closing stock price of $129.00. The stock has technical support in the $122-$123 price area. If the shares can firm up, we see overhead resistance around the $132-$136 price levels.

Lorillard Inc. ( LO ) is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™ Rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars.

Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks , as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here .

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