MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• UBS downgraded Merck & Co Inc (NYSE: MRK) to Neutral from Buy citing slowing Gardasil trends and vaccine supply issues.
• Merriman cut On2 Technologies Inc (AMEX: ONT) to Neutral from Buy to reflect the reduced visibility into financials and management changes.
• Baird downgraded shares of Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ: ZION) to Neutral from Outperform to reflect deteriorating credit quality and growing capital concerns. The firm lowered their target price to $32 from $43.

• AstraZeneca Plc (NYSE: AZN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.
• JP Morgan lowered Marshall & Ilsley Corporation (NYSE: MI) to Underweight from Neutral.
• Acme Packet Inc (NASDAQ: APKT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Piper.

Analyst downgrades: MRK, AZN, MI, ONT and ZION originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Shares of CDC Corp (NASDAQ:CHINA) were initiated by Oppenheimer with a Buy rating and $12 target, as the firm expects CDC to unlock shareholder value by spinning off its software and games business into separately traded companies in the first-half of 2007.

• On2 Technologies (AMEX:ONT) was initiated with a Buy rating and $1.40 target at ThinkEquity, and the firm believes that On2 will capitalize on its continued success in Flash, also noting that Adobe Systems (NASDAQ:ADBE) licenses the company video codec in its Flash player 8.

• Soleil believes Middleby Corp (NASDAQ:MIDD) is positioned to benefit from switching to more energy-efficient models in restaurants from the current equipment, and has initiated the Illinois-based company with a Buy rating and $134 target.

• Deutsche Bank initiated GPC Biotech AG (NASDAQ:GPCB) with a Buy rating; they believe shares could double in a best-case scenario.

Analyst initiations 12-28-06: CDC Corp, On2 Tech started with Buy ratings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 28 Dec 2006 11:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.