Is Honeywell International Inc. (HON) A Good Stock To Buy?

Judging by the fact that Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE:HON) has experienced a drop in interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there were a few money managers who sold off their entire stakes heading into Q4. At the top of the heap, Jonathan Barrett and Paul Segal’s Luminus Management dumped the biggest stake of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, worth about $66.3 million in call options., and Benjamin A. Smith of Laurion Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $35.7 million worth of stock. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 3 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE:HON). We will take a look at American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG), Toronto-Dominion Bank (USA) (NYSE:TD), China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP), and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB). This group of stocks’ market values match HON’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 40 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $3.47 billion, compared to $1.29 billion in HON’s case. American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG) is the most popular stock in this table with 94 funds reporting stakes as of September 30, while China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE:HON) is not the most popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal, but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard AIG might be a better candidate to consider a long position.