Honeywell International Inc. (NASDAQ: HON) is back in the spotlight on Wednesday, December 17, 2025, as fresh Wall Street commentary and a steady drumbeat of corporate transformation milestones shape the narrative around the industrial giant’s next phase.
In afternoon New York trading, Honeywell stock hovered around $200–$201, up about 1% on the session, with an intraday range roughly between $198 and $202.
While today’s move is modest, the underlying story is bigger: Honeywell is in the middle of a multi-year shift from diversified conglomerate to a set of more focused, standalone businesses—a change that analysts increasingly frame as a catalyst-rich setup heading into 2026. [1]
What’s driving Honeywell stock on Dec. 17, 2025?
A key theme in today’s coverage is renewed attention on analyst initiations and price-target math as investors weigh Honeywell’s near-term earnings profile against its longer-term restructuring timeline.
One of the most-circulated notes today points to Evercore ISI initiating coverage with an Outperform rating and a $255 price target—positioning Honeywell as a “picks-and-shovels” way to gain exposure to power/automation cycles and a potential 2026 shift in market leadership toward growth-sensitive industrials. [2]
The bigger takeaway: market participants are treating Honeywell less like a “slow industrial” and more like a portfolio transition story—with a growing list of identifiable checkpoints between now and H2 2026.
Evercore’s call: “picks and shovels,” supply chains, and FY26 momentum
Evercore analyst Alexander Virgo initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a $255 price target, arguing Honeywell offers exposure to durable industrial cycles while the company’s transformation builds a catalyst path into 2026. [3]
The same coverage highlighted two pillars that matter for HON stock right now:
- Cycle and pricing setup: With supply chains still described as tight and pricing power holding up, Evercore’s framework suggests Honeywell can carry momentum into FY26. [4]
- A “growth becomes valuable” market regime: The note also leans on a broader thesis that industrials tend to outperform when growth is re-rated higher—something Evercore expects to re-emerge in 2026. [5]
In other words, today’s Honeywell trade is less about a single headline and more about whether the market starts to pull forward the value of the company’s post-breakup structure.
Honeywell stock forecast: where Wall Street price targets stand now
Zooming out beyond one firm’s initiation, the broader analyst picture (as aggregated by MarketBeat) looks like this:
- Consensus rating: Hold
- Analysts tracked: 19
- Average 12‑month price target:$236.56
- High / low targets:$269 high and $195 low (as listed) [6]
That consensus implies a meaningful upside case on paper—while still reflecting real disagreement on timing, execution risk, and how much value unlock is realistically captured before the separations are complete.
Recent notable actions in the same dataset include:
- Goldman Sachs lowering a target from $245 to $236 (dated Dec. 16, 2025 in the table). [7]
- Evercore ISI initiation at $255 (dated Dec. 15, 2025 in the table). [8]
The transformation story: Honeywell is building toward “three independent companies”
To understand why coverage has turned more catalyst-driven, it helps to look at the corporate roadmap Honeywell has already put in motion.
1) Solstice Advanced Materials is already spun off
Honeywell completed the spin-off of its Advanced Materials business—now operating as Solstice Advanced Materials—and Solstice began trading on Nasdaq under ticker “SOLS” on October 30, 2025. Honeywell continues trading under “HON.” [9]
Honeywell also disclosed the distribution mechanics: one share of Solstice for every four Honeywell shares held as of the record date (Oct. 17, 2025), with cash in lieu for fractional shares. [10]
2) Aerospace spin-off leadership is now named—and the timeline is explicit
On November 3, 2025, Honeywell announced leadership for the planned aerospace spin:
- Jim Currier to serve as President and CEO of the future Honeywell Aerospace entity
- Craig Arnold to serve as Board Chair [11]
The company reiterated that the Honeywell Aerospace spin-off remains on track for completion in the second half of 2026, and described the future standalone aerospace supplier as having more than $15 billion in 2024 sales (as stated in the release). [12]
3) Shareholder returns remain part of the pitch
Honeywell’s board approved an increase in the regular annual cash dividend from $4.52 to $4.76 per share, effective beginning with the $1.19 per share fourth-quarter dividend (paid Dec. 5, 2025, per the announcement). [13]
At a ~$200 stock price, that annual dividend rate implies a yield in the ~2%–3% range (roughly ~2.4% if you do the math), helping keep Honeywell on income investors’ radar even as the transformation unfolds. [14]
Business momentum: aerospace strength, pricing, and the 2025 outlook
Honeywell’s operational performance matters because it underwrites the credibility of the breakup strategy—and provides the earnings base analysts are modeling into 2026.
In its Q3 2025 reporting cycle, Reuters reported that Honeywell raised its 2025 adjusted EPS forecast to $10.60–$10.70, even after incorporating an estimated impact related to the Solstice separation. Reuters also reported:
- Total company sales rose 7% to $10.41 billion in the quarter
- Adjusted EPS was $2.82
- Aerospace sales rose 15% to $4.51 billion [15]
Reuters also noted Honeywell’s commentary around cost pressures and tariffs in aerospace—and highlighted management’s view that pricing could strengthen as tariff and inflation dynamics become clearer. [16]
For HON stock, this matters because aerospace has been one of the clearest “engine rooms” of growth—supporting the thesis that a pure-play aerospace listing could eventually attract its own valuation logic.
The “technology catalyst” angle: AI, automation, and smart infrastructure
Honeywell’s equity story isn’t only about corporate structure—it’s also about demonstrating that its technology platforms are landing in real customer deployments.
AI-assisted control rooms: Honeywell + TotalEnergies pilot
Honeywell disclosed a collaboration with TotalEnergies involving an ongoing pilot of its AI-assisted Experion Operations Assistant at the Port Arthur Refinery in Texas. The company said preliminary pilot results showed the system forecasted five potential events, with predictions averaging 12 minutes in advance of an alarm incident. [17]
Honeywell positioned this as part of a broader push toward “industrial autonomy”—a narrative that aligns well with investor interest in AI-enabled industrial workflows beyond consumer tech.
Smart venues: Charlotte Hornets partnership
Honeywell and Hornets Sports & Entertainment announced a multi-year partnership naming Honeywell the Official Building Automation Partner of the Charlotte Hornets. Honeywell said it will deploy AI-driven building technologies across the Spectrum Center and the Novant Health Performance Center, including advanced security and building integration systems—and noted a portion of Spectrum Center would be renamed the Honeywell Event Level. [18]
Deals like these don’t usually move a $100B+ market-cap stock overnight, but they reinforce a strategic theme: Honeywell wants to be viewed as a software-and-systems industrial, not just a hardware supplier.
Governance and oversight: Indra Nooyi joins Honeywell’s board
Honeywell announced that its board appointed Indra Nooyi as an independent director, effective January 1, 2026. [19]
In a transformation period—especially one involving multiple separations—board composition can become more than a footnote. Investors often look for governance signals that the company is prepared for the complexity of executing several large moves while maintaining operating performance.
Institutional activity: what today’s filings are (and aren’t) saying
A quieter set of “current news” items today comes from institutional ownership filings referenced in MarketBeat updates.
Examples highlighted in those reports include:
- Threadgill Financial LLC reporting a new position of 15,000 shares (Q3 filing), valued around $3.16 million in the report. [20]
- Union Bancaire Privée UBP SA reporting it reduced its stake, selling 28,866 shares in the quarter (per the report). [21]
These are backward-looking (they reflect prior-quarter positioning), and single-holder moves rarely change the fundamental picture for a stock as widely held as Honeywell. But they do add texture to today’s flow of “HON stock” headlines: investors are actively rebalancing exposure while the breakup thesis plays out.
The Honeywell bull case vs. bear case as of Dec. 17, 2025
Bull case: why optimists see upside in HON stock
- Clear, dated catalysts: Solstice already spun; aerospace leadership named; target completion H2 2026. [22]
- Aerospace demand tailwind: Q3 results described by Reuters point to strong aerospace sales growth, supporting the “pure-play aerospace” thesis. [23]
- Analyst upside skew: The Street’s average price target sits above the current trading area, with recent initiations (Evercore) highlighting a catalyst-rich path. [24]
- Shareholder return continuity: Dividend increase supports total-return appeal during a multi-year transition. [25]
Bear case: what skeptics worry about
- Execution risk: Separations, filings, tax rulings, and operational disentanglement can take longer and cost more than expected (risk factors are routinely noted in company communications around these transactions). [26]
- Margin and cost pressures: Reuters highlighted aerospace cost/tariff pressure and margin impact in 2025, even amid strong demand—suggesting execution must stay sharp. [27]
- Valuation and timing: Even if “sum-of-the-parts” value exists, the market may not reward it until the separations are closer to completion—creating a long wait for a rerating.
What to watch next for Honeywell stock
For readers tracking Honeywell International Inc. stock into year-end and early 2026, these are the practical signposts:
- More detail on separation mechanics: Watch for additional disclosures tied to the automation/aerospace separation workstreams and any Form 10–related updates (as referenced in Honeywell communications around separation conditions). [28]
- Next earnings catalyst: Third-party calendars estimate Honeywell’s next earnings date around early February 2026, based on past schedules (not an official announcement). [29]
- Analyst target revisions: With Evercore initiating and other banks adjusting targets in December, more model updates can follow quickly—especially if macro data shifts industrial expectations. [30]
Bottom line
On Dec. 17, 2025, Honeywell (HON) isn’t moving because of a single blockbuster headline—it’s moving because the market is re-engaging with a multi-year transformation that now has concrete milestones behind it (Solstice), leadership in place for what’s next (Aerospace), and a steady cadence of analyst and investor reassessments.
References
1. www.honeywell.com, 2. www.insidermonkey.com, 3. www.insidermonkey.com, 4. www.insidermonkey.com, 5. www.insidermonkey.com, 6. www.marketbeat.com, 7. www.marketbeat.com, 8. www.marketbeat.com, 9. www.honeywell.com, 10. www.honeywell.com, 11. www.honeywell.com, 12. www.honeywell.com, 13. www.honeywell.com, 14. www.honeywell.com, 15. www.reuters.com, 16. www.reuters.com, 17. www.honeywell.com, 18. www.honeywell.com, 19. www.honeywell.com, 20. www.marketbeat.com, 21. www.marketbeat.com, 22. www.honeywell.com, 23. www.reuters.com, 24. www.marketbeat.com, 25. www.honeywell.com, 26. www.honeywell.com, 27. www.reuters.com, 28. www.honeywell.com, 29. www.marketbeat.com, 30. www.marketbeat.com
