• Jefferies downgraded shares of Dominion Resources (NYSE: D) to Underperform from Hold and lowered its target to $30 from $43.50 based on the company's growing need to issue equity as they believe Dominion will face a growing funding gap from reduced asset sales and lower cash contributions from its commodity businesses.
  
• Piper cut Zymogenetics (NASDAQ: ZGEN) to Neutral from Buy and lowered its target to $4 from $14 to reflect the slower-than-expected launch of RecoThrom.
  
• Friedman Billings downgraded Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO) to Market Perform from Outperform as they believe macro challenges and tougher compares will limit upside. The firm recommends selling into strength and lowered their target to $28 from $32.
• Goldman cut Altera (NASDAQ: ALTR) to Sell from Neutral at Xilinx (NASDAQ: XLNX) to Neutral from Buy.
  
• Andersons (NASDAQ: ANDE) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Stephens.
  
• LodgeNet (NASDAQ: LNET) was lowered to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley.

Analyst initiations:

• Merrill initiated Apollo Investment (NASDAQ: AINV) with a Buy rating and $12 target. The firm is positive on the company's low debt levels vs. other business development companies.
  
• Pharmasset (NASDAQ: VRUS) was assumed with an Outperform rating at Cowen. The firm is positive on Pharmasset's valuation based on prospects for its HCV nucleoside polymerase inhibitor, R7128.
• Morgan Stanley initiated NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) with an Underweight rating and $21 target and Nasdaq (NASDAQ: NDAQ) with an Equal Weight rating.
  
• Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) was started at BMO Capital with a Market Perform rating.