The AGL Energy Ltd (ASX: AGL) share price has been a star performer this year to date, having clipped a 26% gain in that time.
Meanwhile, US natural gas futures are still hovering near their 14-year highs on Wednesday, trading at US$9.1184 per million British thermal units (MMBtu).
As seen below, it's been a wild ride for the energy commodity, shown here alongside the AGL share price.
Image source: Getty Images
What's this mean for AGL shares?
Whilst natural gas futures continue surging to new heights, the AGL share price has levelled off and, in fact, reversed in recent weeks.
Despite this, demand for natural gas remains buoyant and shows little sign of slowing in the near term.
Trading Economics noted:
[Gas] prices remain not far from an over 14-year high of $10/MMBtu touched last week.
A series of heatwaves this summer across the US has sent demand from gas-fired power plants to all-time highs and expectations of increased demand for US LNG exports amid growing concerns of European shortages have been supporting prices.
For AGL, opinion doesn't appear to have been swayed too far from the recent volatility.
Four out of seven brokers still rate AGL a buy at the time of writing, the same as this time last month and up from three in June, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.
The remaining coverage has AGL as a hold, with just one sell rating. The consensus price target from this list is $8.71, suggesting more upside could be on the way. AGL's current share price is $7.68.
Meanwhile, natural gas prices still remain a hot contention with Europe heading into winter and Germany, in particular, looking to increase its strategic reserves.
This has already had a cooling effect on natural gas markets.
"European natural gas prices tumbled from record levels as Germany almost reached its target of gas inventories being 80% full," Trading Economics noted.
Should these trends prevail, it could stem further volatility in natural gas markets.
In the past 12 months, the AGL share price has held a 20% gain.
