Analyst upgrades:

• FBR Capital upgraded U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) and New York Community Bancorp (NYSE: NYB) to Market Perform from Underperform to reflect a new valuation framework. The firm raised its target on U.S. Bancorp to $21 from $14 and on New York Community Bancorp to $10 from $9.
• Stephens upgraded Insulet (NASDAQ: PODD) to Overweight from Equal Weight to reflect the company's top-line growth prospects and reasonable expectations. The firm raised its target on shares to $14 from $8.
• Baird upgraded Athenahealth (NASDAQ: ATHN) to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $46 from $37 based on expectations for revenue and gross margin expansion, and relative valuation.
• Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
• Phillips-Van Heusen (NYSE: PVH) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Reliant Energy (NYSE: RRI) was upgraded to Conviction Buy from Neutral at Goldman.

Analyst upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) to Outperform from market Perform after transferring coverage to a new analyst. The firm expects Morgan to benefit from the pending joint venture with Smith Barney and improvements in its operating environment.
• FBR Capital upgraded Winn-Dixie (NASDAQ: WINN) to Outperform from Market Perform as it believes the company is executing well and shares are cheap at current levels. The firm keeps a $16.50 target on the stock.
• Baird believes Polaris's (NYSE: PII) consensus expectations and valuation are too low and that the company will expand beyond powersports. The firm upgraded shares to Outperform from Neutral and raised their target to $37 from $32.
• J. Crew (NYSE: JCG) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman.
• Lexmark (NYSE: LXK) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays.
• Global Hunter upgraded Big Lots (NYSE: BIG) to Buy from Neutral.

Analyst upgrades:

• UBS upgraded Nokia (NYSE: NOK) to Buy from Neutral as it believes the company's product portfolio is recovering.
  
• Canaccord upgraded Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) to Buy from Hold and raised its target to $450 from $300. The analyst said industry checks indicate deteriorating search conditions have started to improve in late March and notes that the market is already pricing in a weak Q1.
  
• Wachovia upgraded CGI (NYSE: GIB) to Outperform from Market Perform. In addition to valuation, the firm cited the company's defensive profile, comfort with its fiscal 2009 estimates, and its expectation that the company will continue to have strong signings.
• Siliconware Precision (NASDAQ: SPIL) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at HSBC.
  
• Matrixx Initiatives (NASDAQ: MTXX) was lifted to Buy from Hold at Roth Capital.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Pioneer Southwest, Art Technology and Real Goods Solar were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Friedman Billings initiated Pioneer Southwest (NYSE: PSE) with an Outperform rating and $25 target. The firm believes the current valuation does not reflect potential upside from the upstream drop-downs, which would result in higher distributions.
  
• ThinkPanmure believes Art Technology (NASDAQ: ARTG) is well-positioned to benefit from a strong replatforming cycle. Shares were initiated with a Buy rating and $4.50 target.
  
• Broadpoint said Real Goods Solar (NASDAQ: RSOL) has a disciplined operational model leading to profitable growth, and started shares with a Buy rating and $10 target. ThinkPanmure also initiated Real Goods Solar with a Buy rating and $10 target and said the company is well-positioned given strong underlying trends that include higher retail electricity costs, legislative renewable energy standards and incentives, declining solar photovoltaic systems costs, and "green momentum."

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Credit Suisse assumed Telmex International (NYSE: TII) with a Neutral rating and $18 target.
  
• Athenahealth (NASDAQ: ATHN) was initiated with a Hold rating at BB&T Capital.
  
• Western Gas Partners (NYSE: WES) was started at Citigroup with a Hold rating and $18.50 target.

General Electric (NYSE: GE) downgraded to "perform" from "outperform" at Oppenheimer; cut to "peer perform" from outperform at Bear Stearns, according to 24/7 Wall St. The financial site also writes that Visa (NYSE: V) started as "outperform" at KBW.

AthenaHealth (NASDAQ: ATHN) upgraded to "buy" from "neutral" at Merrill Lynch at Briefing.com. The news service also reports that Bernstein downgraded News Corp (NYSE:NWS) to "market perform" from "outperform."

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Athenahealth, Brocade Communications Systems, Royal Bank of Scotland and Human Genome were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Caris initiated shares of Athenahealth (NASDAQ: ATHN) with an Average rating and $26 target, as they believe an unachievable growth rate is priced into shares at current levels.
• Brocade Communications Systems (NASDAQ: BRCD) was initiated with a Neutral rating at UBS.
  
• Royal Bank of Scotland (NYSE: RBS) was initiated with an Underweight rating at Lehmen.
  
• JP Morgan resumed coverage of Human Genome Sciences (NASDAQ: HGSI) with a Neutral rating.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Lazard resumed coverage of Zoran (NASDAQ: ZRAN) with a Hold rating and Sigma Designs (NASDAQ: SIGM) with a Buy rating.
  
• Stifel initiated Tortoise Energy Capital (NYSE: TYY) with a Buy rating and $32 target.
  
• HSBC initiated DSG International (OTC: DSITY) with an Overweight rating.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Athenahealth, Marvell Technology, Broadcom and Nvidia were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Athenahealth (NASDAQ: ATHN) was initiated with a Neutral rating at Goldman Sachs. Jefferies started shares of the stock with a Buy rating and $46 target, as they believe their estimates could prove conservative given potential upside from new and existing physicians adopting athenaClinicals.
• Kaufman Bros initiated Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL) with a Hold rating and $18 target, as they believe near-term growth prospects remain uncertain and recommends waiting for more favorable entry points.
  
• The firm also initiated Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) with a Hold rating and $35 target, and believes the company's growth prospects are priced into shares following the recent rally, and started shares of Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) with a Buy rating and $42 target, as they believe the company's growth opportunity and competitive strength remain intact and would be buyers at current levels.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Goldman started shares of Sara Lee (NYSE: SLE) with a Neutral rating and $16 target.
  
• UBS initiated US BioEnergy (NASDAQ: USBE) with a Neutral rating.
  
• Bear Stearns inititated CarMax (NYSE: KMX) with an Underperform rating.
  
• Wachovia started Teekay Offshore Partners (NYSE: TOO) and Holly Energy Partners (NYSE: HEP) with Market Perform ratings.