These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls this Wednesday.

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) Cut to Underperform at BMO Capital Markets.

Alkermes, Plc (NASDAQ: ALKS) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Started as Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Started as Buy at UBS.

BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ: CENX) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.

Comstock Resources, Inc. (NYSE: CRK) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) Cut to Underperform with $6 target at BofA/ML.

Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE: DUK) Cut to Neutral at UBS.

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) Started as Buy at UBS.

Forest Oil (NYSE: FST) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) Maintained Buy but cut target to $43 at Argus.

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM) Started as Neutral at UBS.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) Reiterated Buy with $39 target at Argus.

North American Palladium Ltd. (NYSEMKT: PAL) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) Raised to Buy at ThinkEquity.

Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.

Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE: WM) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.

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