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.
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.
