• Empire District Electric (NYSE:EDE) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies on valuation. The firm raised its target to $18.50 from $16.
  
• Actividentity (NASDAQ:ACTI) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Soleil and its target was increased to $3.25 from $2.50 on valuation.
  
• Merrill upgraded Phototronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) to Buy from Underperform citing cost reductions, the amended credit agreement, and expectations for growth after the January quarter.

• Roth Capital downgraded RTI Biologics (NASDAQ:RTIX) to Hold from Buy and lowered its target to $3 from $6 following its negative Q4 negative pre-announcement.
  
• Morgan Joseph said Ceradyne (NASDAQ:CRDN) will not ship any new X-SAPI body armor in Q4 due to a contract protest by a competitor. The Army has decided to seek new bids but CRDN management expects to win a similar order in late January with deliveries expected in late 1Q09. Shares were downgraded to Hold from Buy.

• William Blair initiated Grand Canyon (NASDAQ:LOPE) with an Outperform rating. The firm believes the company has strong growth prospects amid a favorable industry backdrop.
  
• Keefe Bruyette resumed coverage of Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) with a Market Perform rating and $12.50 target, citing financial guaranty market instability.
• Capital Source (NYSE:CSE) was reinstated with a Neutral rating at Credit Suisse.
  
• Yongye Biotechnology (OTC:YGYB) was initiated with a Buy rating and $3.50 target at Roth Capital.

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: EDE, ACTI, CRDN, LOPE, AGO originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.