Kodak, the imaging giant enmeshed in a long turnaround push, is working with Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher as it shores up defenses against a takeover amid a low share price.

The Rochester, N.Y.-based company, which saw second quarter sales drop five percent over 2010 to $1.5B, implemented a shareholder rights plan on Aug. 1 that would activate a purchase right for each share held and ostensibly dilute any person or group trying to gain more than 4.9 percent of the company.

Kodak’s shares are trading around $2.50, on the lower end of its 52-week range of $2.20 to $5.95, after pushing the $6 mark in late December and January.

Speculation over Kodak’s financial future has simmered in recent years with some suggesting a bankruptcy filing is an inevitable result. CEO Antonio Perez has pleaded for patience in his six years at the helm and continues to point to 2012 as bounce-back year for Kodak.

JFWBK partners Joele Frank, Michael Freitag and Meaghan Repko are supporting the Kodak account.

In announcing the shareholder rights plan this week, Kodak said it is protecting $2.9B in tax attributes that could be lost if there were an “ownership change.” That move came after it warned a week earlier that 2011 revenue will likely fall short of expectations as “legacy liabilities” and other costs draw cash.

“We are investing in … growth businesses to create a new profitable, sustainable digital company by 2012,” Perez said in announcing Q2 earnings on July 26.