The shares of PrivateBancorp (NASDAQ: PVTB) wasted no time in finding a fresh annual low this morning after the Chicago-based bank announced plans to slash its dividend by 87%. The quarterly payout will now be one penny per share, down from 7.5 cents per share. On the heels of this report, the stock quickly slipped to $9.65, marking its lowest price since September 2002.

"Given the current economic and regulatory environment, we felt this was a prudent step to take to further enhance our capital position and our liquidity," said President and CEO Larry D. Richman in a statement.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Intevac, PrivateBancorp and Potash were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Intevac (NASDAQ: IVAC) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral. Piper downgraded Intevac citing delays in Gen2 upgrades following Q1 results.
  
• Sandler downgraded PrivateBancorp (NASDAQ: PVTB) following its Q1 earnings results.
  
• RBC Capital downgraded Potash (NYSE: POT), and advised taking some profits.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Soleil downgraded Sunoco (NYSE: SUN) based on weak East Coast refining margins and low marketing and chemical margins.
  
• Calyon downgraded UAL (NASDAQ: UAUA) based on higher fuel costs and the failed merger with Continental (NYSE: CAL).

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) completed its acquisition of the parent of Chicago's LaSalle Bank in the beginning of October, a move that significantly increased Bank of America's presence in Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. LaSalle had 400 banking centers, 17,000 commercial customers, and 1.4 million retail customers.

Now, most of LaSalle Bank's former senior leadership has defected to Chicago-based PrivateBancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: PVTB). Bank of America said that it would defend its customer base from PrivateBancorp or any lender that tries to poach customers from the biggest business lender in Chicago. They plan to start with visits to LaSalle customers: "We will be blanketing the market with calls starting today," said a Bank of America spokesperson.

Experts have drawn distinctions between LaSalle's commercial banking model and Bank of America's retail model. LaSalle allowed front-line lenders to make more credit decisions and handle virtually all of the clients' needs, but Bank of America says that credit decisions in most cases will still be made locally.

Meanwhile, former LaSalle Bank CEO, Larry Richman, will take over as CEO of PrivateBancorp on Monday. "Larry is a proven business and civic leader whose passion for clients and the Chicago area has been demonstrated in his past successes," said Richman's predecessor, PrivateBancorp's cofounder, Ralph Mandell. In turn, Richman said, "There is an extraordinary opportunity for us to build and expand client relationships to become the premier middle market commercial and private bank not only in Chicago, but also in all of the markets we serve."

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Tektronix, Inc (TEK), GameStop Corp (GME) PrivateBancorp, Inc (PVTB), Quebecor World Inc (IQW) and CheckFree Corp (CKFR) were today's more noteworthy upgrades:

• JP Morgan upgraded shares of Tektronix (NYSE: TEK) to Overweight from Underweight citing improving sector fundamentals.

• JP Morgan also raised GameStop (NYSE: GME) to Overweight from Neutral based on the May sales data.

• Oppenheimer upgraded PrivateBancorp (NASDAQ: PVTB) to Neutral from Sell based on valuation.

• BMO Capital raised Quebecor World (NYSE: IQW) to Market Perform from Underperform on valuation.

• CheckFree (NASDAQ: CKFR) was assumed with a Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer at CIBC citing a favorable risk/reward, solid secular underlying trends, and overblown concerns for its rating...

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Symantec Corp (NASDAQ: SYMC) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.

• Ingersoll-Rand Co Ltd (NYSE: IR) was raised to Outperform from Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.

• ThinkEquity upgraded shares of Jones Soda Co (NASDAQ: JSDA) to Buy from Accumulate.

• BB&T upgraded Pacific Sunwear of California (NASDAQ: PSUN) to Buy from Hold.

• Goldman added Cigna Corp (NYSE: CI) to its America's Conviction List.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).