The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 78 points to 13,046.14 (-0.60%), the NASDAQ fell 12 points (-0.39%) to 3,063,32, and the S&P 500 fell -0.72% or about 10 points to 1,392,79.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) raised to ‘neutral’ with a $92 target price at JPMorgan; Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) raised to ‘strong buy’ at Needham; Rackspace Hosting Inc. (NYSE: RAX) cut to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs; Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY) cut to ‘underperform’ at Sterne Agee; and Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR) raised to ‘buy’ at Nomura.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: BBX) is down -1.7% at $3.97; ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG) is down -0.6% at $26.21; Gamestop Corp. (NYSE: GME) is down -6% at $23.17; IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS) is down -4.9% at $92.89; Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) is up 2.9% at $76.20 after posting a new 52-week high of $76.66 earlier today; Perry Ellis International Inc. (NASDAQ: PERY) is up 3% at $18.42; Sonic Corp. (NASDAQ: SONC) is down -6.8% at $7.50; and The9 Ltd. (NASDAQ: NCTY) is down -5% at $7.01.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG) is up 3.33% at $46.24 after posting a new 52-week high of $46.95 earlier today. The discount retailer posted better than expected earnings results. More coverage here.

Discovery Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA) is down -0.35% at $48.16. The cable network may take a big loss its investment in the Oprah Winfrey Network. More coverage here.

Sturm, Ruger & Co. (NYSE: RGR) is up 13.4% at $47.95 after posting a new 52-week high today of $48.24. Smith & Wesson Holdings Co. (NASDAQ: SWHC) is up nearly 14% at $7.84 after posting a new 52-week high of $8.00. The gunmakers are rising on Ruger’s announcement that it will not be accepting any new orders until May because it is fully booked. More coverage here.

Banc Trust Financial Group Inc. (NASDAQ: BTFG) is down more than -18% at $1.22. The bank holding company warned on earnings this morning. More coverage here.

Diamond Foods Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND) is down -8% at $23.59. The snack food maker is suspending its dividend. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Friday. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart, and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard are giving speeches. We have also noted the following event on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 10:00 a.m. – New home sales

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Paul Ausick

Financial research firm SNL summarizes Discovery’s problems with OWN this way:

The problems the network faces are many. First, with all of the bad press that the channel is getting, advertisers may tire of playing the waiting game for shows to catch an audience. Second, the channel had to renegotiate carriage agreements in order to change the genre starting in January of 2011. Many of Discovery’s renewals with multichannel operators are up in late 2012 and 2013. When launching new networks, programmers generally try to get their contracts to align with the rest of the channels so they have more leverage. That means Discovery could end up negotiating carriage agreements for OWN again starting at the end of this year. Its hope for license fees of 20 cents to 25 cents per sub may now be unrealistic.

Discovery’s shares are down fractionally at $48.29 in pre-market trading in a 52-week range of $34.75-$48.50.

Discovery is a well-run company, and its shares trade at $48, near a 52-week high. The entertainment company has a market cap of $18.7 billion, revenue of $4.2 billion and net income of $1.1 billion last year. OWN should not have much of an effect on those numbers. But no corporate management at a public company wants to be viewed as wasteful. The investment in OWN is just that.

Winfrey’s own show, called “Oprah’s Next Chapter,” drew its biggest audience, 3.5 million viewers, with a recent interview with Whitney Houston’s daughter. The show’s viewership has been as low as 500,000, though. It airs twice a week, but even if its ratings were unusually strong, that is not enough to carry an entire network.

One of the most promising signs for OWN is that it is available to 77 million households. As cable programmers have found in the past, the number of homes that can see a show means nothing. It is the number of people who tune in that matters.

OWN was set up to rely on programs beyond Winfrey’s. O’Donnell’s show was supposed to be one of the foundations of those plans. Now that it is gone, OWN will have to find a replacement. There are only so many celebrities that OWN and Discovery can call upon. How many first-tier entertainers want their reputations fouled by poor ratings and a cancellation?

OWN has run out of time. Discovery will soon run out of patience. It has a reputation as a smart entertainment company to defend. And OWN has caused that reputation to erode.

Douglas A. McIntyre

France and Germany continue to press new eurozone treaty measures that would help trigger new financing for the region. (Reuters)

Japan says it is not aware of a $600 billion IMF plan for Europe. (Reuters)

The Department of Health blocks wider distribution of the morning-after birth control pill. (Reuters)

Japan’s government may set a bailout fund from crippled TEPCO. The fund may be as high as $19 billion. (Reuters)

Two large electronics retailers in China increase e-commerce efforts. (Reuters)

Nintendo says its lead game designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, will not leave. (Reuters)

AT&T (NYSE: T) says it will continue its campaign to buy T-Mobile. (Reuters)

A Wall Street Journal analysis shows the SEC allowed 50 money managers to avoid disclosing ownership in corporations. (WSJ)

Natural gas will replace coal as the primary means to generate electricity in the U.S. by 2025. (WSJ)

Regulators may decide U.S. banks do not have to set risk parameters based on credit rating agency opinions. (WSJ)

A deal between Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) faces more regulator scrutiny. (WSJ)

Macy’s (NYSE: M) may try to block a deal between Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE: MSO) and JCPenney (NYSE: JCP). (WSJ)

General Motors (NYSE: GM) says Volt fires were cause by welded parts in the cars. (WSJ)

Verizon’s (NYSE: VZ) 4G network not working in some areas. (WSJ)

Some central banks in Europe set plans in the event the eurozone does not survive. (WSJ)

New York State raises a tax on the wealthy. (WSJ)

Avon (NYSE: AVP) has a gap between earnings and free cash flow that limits its operations. (WSJ)

Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA) says its investment in the Oprah network continues to rise. (WSJ)

Pacific Sunware of California (NASDAQ: PSUN) will close 200 stores. (WSJ)

Southwest Air (NYSE: LUV) is close to a transaction to buy 100 Boeing (NYSE: BA) planes. (WSJ)

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) has advanced approval of a new kidney cancer drug. (WSJ)

AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) says it will cut its U.S. workforce by 24%. (WSJ)

LivingSocial will try to raise $400 million and probably put IPO plans on hold. (WSJ)

Developers buy closed auto plants because of cheap property values. (NYT)

Boeing (NYSE: BA) workers approve a new four-year contract. (NYT)

Genetech and Novartis (NYSE: NVS) develop a drug that may slow the advance of breast cancer. (NYT)

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) may sell its luxury operations. (FT)

JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) says it will increase lending in Europe. (FT)

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) loses a key trademark case in China. (FT)

McGraw-Hill (NYSE: MHP) to cuts jobs in its education unit. (FT)

A Bloomberg poll says investors expect a banking crisis in China. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

There are plenty of challenges facing the network and cable TV industry these day, not the least of which is the growth in streaming video. The well-known troubles of Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) to one side for a moment, the market for streaming is growing, while some cable operators are losing subscribers. Broadcast networks with content to license are better placed to profit, while cable operators with their own spectrum might be in the best position of all, at least in the near term.We’re looking today at 10 companies with broadcast or satellite/cable businesses (or both): CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS), Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC), Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH), DIRECTV (NASDAQ: DTV), Viacom, Inc. (NYSE: VIA), Liberty Starz Group (NASDAQ: LSTZA), Discovery Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA), and Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR).

All data from Yahoo! Finance and current stock prices were gathered about noon today.

CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) has a median target price of $31.00 from 22 brokers. Shares are trading today at $25.66, for an implied gain of $5.34, or 21%. CBS’s forward P/E is 11.62 and the company pays a dividend yield of 1.6%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $15.99-$29.68, and at today’s price that’s about 60% above its 52-week low, posted earlier this morning, and 14% below the 52-week high. CBS is scheduled to release third-quarter earnings on Thursday. The consensus EPS estimate is $0.46 on revenue of $3.43 billion. A year ago the company posted sales of about $3.3 billion and last quarter revenue totaled nearly $3.6 billion. There’s room for the share price to rise, but neither the 52-week high nor the target price are endangered in the near term.

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) has a median target price of $40.00 from 24 brokers. Shares are trading today at $35.34, for an implied gain of $4.66, or 13%. Disney’s forward P/E is 12.28 and the company pays a dividend yield of 1.1%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $28.19-$44.34, and at today’s price that’s about 25% above its 52-week low, posted earlier this morning, and 20% below the 52-week high. Disney is much more than a distribution channel. Its ability to create compelling content and then license it for further distribution is practically equal to a license to print money. Analysts expect EPS of $0.54 on revenue of $10.36 billion when Disney reports third-quarter earnings next week.

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) has a median target price of $30.00 from 24 brokers. Shares are trading today at $23.60, for an implied gain of $6.40, or 27%. Comcast’s forward P/E is 12.35 and the company pays a dividend yield of 1.9%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $19.19-$27.16, and at today’s price that’s about 23% above its 52-week low, posted earlier this morning, and 13% below the 52-week high. Comcast owns both content and the fat pipes to distribute that content. Because distribution of streaming content is fast becoming a commodity, it’s Comcast’s NBCUniversal media business that will carry Comcast forward. The $30 target price is probably safe for a while, but the company’s 52-week high could be in the sights.

Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) has a median target price of $85.00 from 22 brokers. Shares are trading today at $62.91, for an implied gain of $22.09, or 35%. Time Warner’s forward P/E is 11.25 and the company pays a dividend yield of 3.1%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $47.89-$79.21, and at today’s price that’s about 31% above its 52-week low, posted earlier this morning, and 21% below the 52-week high. In its last quarter, Time Warner lost subscribers and posted lower profits. The company believes it will make its forecast annual profit, but warned that advertising was falling. It’s easy for subscribers to drop cable subscriptions in a tight economy, and as the holidays come round, dropping cable service to have a few more bucks to spend on gifts will occur to a lot of viewers.

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) Started as Outperform at Baird.
AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR) Started as Buy at Stern Agee.
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) Raised to Perform at Oppenheimer.
American Water Works Co. (NYSE: AWK) Started as Neutral with $32 target at Credit Suisse.
Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.
GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) Started as Outperform at Baird.
Harbin Electric, Inc. (NASDAQ: HRBN) Cut to Neutral at Roth Capital.
Invesco Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) Started as Buy at Stern Agee.
Koninklijke Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG) Cut to Underperform at Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE: LM) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) Maintained Buy but cut estimates and target at Argus.
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research.
Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Wolverine Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: WWW) named Value Stock of the Day at Zacks.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

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JON C. OGG

The following companies either announced dividend hikes or hinted at dividend hikes soon: Covidien plc (NYSE: COV); CreXus Investment Corp. (NYSE: CXS); Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA); Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB); Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F); Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: HST); Las Vegas Sands Corporation (NYSE: LVS); Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT); McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD); Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT); Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM); and Realty Income Corporation (NYSE: O).  These are not even all of the hikes as there were many dividend announcements from smaller companies during the week.

Covidien plc (NYSE: COV) is showing that healthcare products aren’t so worrisome after all.  The company announced on the evening of September 22 that it increased its quarterly dividend by 12.5% from $0.20 to $0.225 per ordinary share.  The new $0.90 anualized payout now generates a dividend yield of roughly 1.97%.

CreXus Investment Corp. (NYSE: CXS) declared on September 20 a bump to its third quarter dividend of $0.30 per share, a 25% gain from the prior $0.25 payout.  As with all entities of this sort, it is hard to know whether or not this payout can be continued as income from quarter to quarter can fluctuate substantially.  To prove the point, this annualized dividend would be approximately 13% and around $9.15 its 52-week range is $8.26 to $13.51.  The company did note, ” We believe our shareholders will continue to see the benefits of the breadth and diversity of our platform in the quarters and years ahead.”

Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA) is not a dividend  payer, but early this week came word from the Goldman Sachs Media conference that its CEO is pushing for a stock buyback and has said that a dividend initiation is possible.  For a media company with no dividend, that could be a coup. The stock is close to $40 per share and its estimates for earnings from Thomson Reuters are $2.36 EPS for 2011 and $2.81 EPS for 2012.

We would normally group these alphabetically, but not today.  We grouped these in order of size and then we used an alphabetic order when it came to the same size of a buyback announcement.  The first group is the billions of dollars.

We then grouped the stocks by size again from the under $1 billion down to $500 million, and then we grouped the buybacks of under $500 million down to $200 million.  Usually we would cut the list off at buybacks of the $100 million and higher but the list was already too big so we cut the Buyback Kings off at $200 million for August.  Lastly, we have a chart at the very end tallying it all up…. Some $28.7 billion for just the $200 million and higher in new or expanded buyback announcements.  There were literally dozens of other buybacks that were closer to the $100 million mark and many more that were less than that.

The $1 billion and higher alone which were announced in August were as follows: Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW); CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS); Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG); Covidien plc (NYSE: COV); Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU); Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA); Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS); and Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT).

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) Cut to Underperform at RBC.
Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) Reiterated Hold at Argus.
ARM Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARMH) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
BP plc (NYSE: BP) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) Started as Market Perform at William Blair.
Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) Reiterated Hold and Cut estimates at Argus.
China Life Insurance Co. Ltd. (NYSE: LFC) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Edison International (NYSE: EIX) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) Raised to Outperform at William Blair.
Lender Processing Services (NYSE: LPS) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE: M) Reiterated Buy as Value at Zacks.
Niska Gas Storage Partners LLC (NYSE: NKA) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.
SLM Corporation (NYSE: SLM) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: HOT) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.

• Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations were in AAP, ADM, COF, CVX, CSCO, CREE, IDTI, ISRG, KGC, NOV, NYX, TEVA, TDW, WYN.

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JON C. OGG

The fresh buybacks we have featured are only the big buybacks which are large in size or large in percentages of the market capitalization of the underlying companies.  The best buyback announcements in August have come from the following: Ace Ltd. (NYSE: ACE); Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM); AmerisourceBergen Corporation (NYSE: ABC); AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL); Avnet Inc. (NYSE: AVT); CBOE Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE); Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR); Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO); Covidien plc (NYSE: COV); Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA); Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: DLB); Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM); Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX); Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS); Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN); JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO); Jarden Corporation (NYSE: JAH); News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA); Rowan Companies, Inc. (NYSE: RDC); Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV); and St. Jude Medical Inc. (NYSE: STJ).

We also saw some large and interesting buybacks in the last week of July from the likes of Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX); Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MSI); Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V); and Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ).

The companies are using their balance sheets to take advantage of distressed situations.  Ultimately, this could even signal M&A opportunities arising.  As a reminder, companies are not under any obligation to spend a single dollar to repurchase stocks.  These buybacks actually look real, and many have a solid history of buying back shares.  Who needs activist investors when you see these billions and billions being made available to purchase stock.

Here are the companies buying billions in their own stock.