Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AIG, DFS, ERIC, GE, HOG, SYMC ...

Analyst upgrades:

Bernstein upgraded Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC) to Outperform from Market Perform based on relative valuation and expectations the company will repay TARP without a capital raise. The firm raised its target to $34 from $26.
Thomas Weisel upgraded Ticketmaster (NASDAQ: TKTM) to Overweight from Market Weight and raised its target to $12 from $8 citing dynamic ticket pricing and the potential merger with Live Nation (NYSE: LYV).
Citigroup upgraded Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) to Hold from Sell after channel checks indicated retail sales have improved since Q2. The firm raised its target on shares to $26 from $14.
McDermott (NYSE: MDR) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank.
General Electric (NYSE: GE) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.

Analyst downgrades:

Credit Suisse downgraded AIG (NYSE: AIG) to Underperform from Neutral and lowered its target to $15 from $20 and said they see little upside value for equity holders and further risk of franchise erosion.
JPMorgan downgraded Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD) to Underweight from Neutral on concerns a Las Vegas recovery will be slow and news out of Atlantic City will continue to get worse. The firm lowered its target price on shares to $7 from $10.
Goldman downgraded Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) to Neutral from Buy and cuts its target to $18 from $21 based on expectations for a rotation out of more defensive names into cyclical and higher growth names. Note that the firm upgraded RedHat (NYSE: RHT) and VMware (NYSE: VMW) to Buy from Neutral.
Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill.
Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Array Biopharma (NASDAQ: ARRY) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Analyst initiations:

Jefferies expects Global Specialty (NASDAQ: GSM) shares to benefit from increased demand for silicon metal and silicon based alloy products. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $10 target.
Keefe Bruyette initiated Ocwen Financial (NYSE: OCN) with an Outperform rating and $14 target. The firm expects Ocwen's mortgage servicing portfolio to grow significantly following the company's recent capital raise.
Deutsche Bank expects PennyMac (NYSE: PMT) to be produce attractive risk-adjusted returns on its mortgage loan portfolio. Shares were assumed with a Buy rating and $23.25 target.
CareFusion (NYSE: CFN) was initiated with an Equal Weight rating and $20 target at Barclays.
Vantage Drilling (AMEX: VTG) was initiated with an Outperform rating and $2.25 target at FBR Capital.
Discover (NYSE: DFS) was initiated with a Neutral rating and $15 target at JPMorgan.