Shares of Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) struggled in May and lagged key benchmarks despite oil and gas markets rallying.
The Woodside share price has also shaved off its former high of $34.41 in early March. Woodside shares now trade at $29.76 before the open today.
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What's up with the Woodside share price?
Investors have sold off Woodside shares at pace in recent weeks. Even in yesterday's session, trading volume was more than double that of its four-week average at more than 12.6 million shares.
Despite positive sentiment from brokers following its merger with BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP)'s petroleum assets and the commodity boom, the stock slipped 4% into the red last month.
Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) slipped just 3%, despite robust growth in the prices of oil and natural gas across the period.
Brent crude climbed another 10% last month. That's despite slipping from a monthly high of US$123 per barrel down to US$116 per barrel in a matter of hours yesterday.
Meanwhile, US natural gas contracts extended their rally and surged 10% higher as well.
However, zooming out, the Woodside share price has been a star performer this year to date. It's clipped a 36% gain in that time.
Investors have booked tidy gains in their Woodside positions. And that's all whilst the benchmark ASX 200 has endured a 3% loss so far in 2022.
For Woodside, that's driven a 35% gain in its share price over the previous year of trade as well.
That's been backed by a 65% yearly change in Brent crude oil and a 165% gain for US natural gas prices in the last 12 months.
Around two-thirds of analysts covering Woodside also have it rated as a buy right now. Whereas 27% say its currently a hold, according to Bloomberg data.
