Despite a price-target increase from Jefferies, Praxair, Inc. (PX: sentiment, chart, options) has fallen with the rest of the broad market, ending the stock's impressive 2009 rally. The equity had gained nearly 12% this year, adding to the 33% it tacked on since hitting a multi-year low in November.

The stock may be due for additional price-target increases. Thomson Financial reports PX's average 12-month price target is docked at $68.87, a premium of just 4% to Tuesday's closing price.

However, short-term option players don't think the equity is worthy of upward price-target revisions. The stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.24 shows that puts outnumber calls among options slated to expire within the next 3 months. Additionally, this number ranks higher than 79% of similar readings taken during the past year, meaning short-term option players have been more bullishly aligned just 21% of time.

Further displaying the recent pessimism is the equity's 10 day put/call ratio on the International Securities Exchange (ISE), which comes in at 1.18 -- pointing to a recent affinity for bearish bets.

According to Zacks, bullish brokerages quadruple the bearish analysts rating the security. It seems that the short term will prove important to the equity. If the stock can continue its recent rally, additional price-target increases could help fuel the stock higher. However, if today's downward slip is just the beginning of a new trend, we could see downgrades from the bullish brokerage firms, pressuring the equity lower.

Followers of PX should keep an eye on the shares' progress toward the 60. A weekly close beneath this level, could push the stock downward.