Easily one of the top performers on Friday, Verb Technology (NASDAQ:VERB) — which bills itself as a tech-driven sales enablement company — popped dramatically higher on the announcement of a new social shopping feature. Naturally, VERB stock is attracting the spotlight although prospective investors should exercise extreme caution.

According to the official press release, Verb announced a technological integration with Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META). Through the latter entity’s Facebook and Instagram social networks, Verb content creators can facilitate seamless, native, friction-free checkout processes.

Essentially, Facebook and Instagram users can brose products and make purchases through Verb’s Market.live livestream social shopping platform, all without leaving the aforementioned networks. This integration is potentially a milestone achievement for Verb, which could yield a larger total addressable market.

“This expansion with Meta underscores MARKET.live’s commitment to providing a seamless, interactive video-based shopping experience across multiple social platforms,” remarked Verb CEO Rory J. Cutaia.

VERB Stock Attracted Institutional Interest

As InvestorPlace’s William White mentioned, investors are excited about Verb’s tech integration news. Earlier today, more than 262 million units of VERB stock traded hands. That’s well above the company’s daily average trading volume of approximately 1 million shares.

What has piqued interest, though, is the presence of institutional investors. Below are five of the biggest supporters of VERB stock, per data provided by Yahoo Finance:

• Citadel Advisors owns 73,086 shares.
• Vanguard Group owns 68,376 shares.
• UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) owns 50,431 shares.
• Millennium Management owns 33,264 shares.
• Geode Capital Management owns 28,613 shares.

In addition, five mutual funds — including the Fidelity Extended Market Index Fund (MUTF:FSMAX) — hold VERB stock.

According to the company’s Form 10-K, Verb’s client base consists primarily of multinational direct sales enterprises. Over time, the company has expanded its base to include large companies in the life sciences sector and professional sports leagues.

However, one of its disclosed risk factors is indebtedness and the agreements governing this liability. Over the past 52 weeks, VERB stock has plunged more than 89%.

Why It Matters

Surprisingly, VERB stock enjoys analyst coverage from Ascendiant’s Edward Woo. On Dec. 16 of last year — when shares closed the previous Friday at 18 cents — Woo issued a “buy” rating with a massive $6 target. While that’s incredibly ambitious, the expert certainly has a big winner today.

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On the date of publication, Josh Enomoto did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.