Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) stock has surged this year, rising more than 35%. This adds to the stock's 194% gain last year as shares recovered from getting slammed in 2022.

Why is Wall Street scrambling to buy Meta stock? Among other things, the social network specialist's accelerating revenue growth, improving earnings, a huge share repurchase program, and a recently announced dividend. Here's a closer look at how the company's strong financial momentum has management returning heaps of cash to shareholders.

Reviewing Meta's financials shows that the company probably could have been paying a dividend for quite some time. Sure, Meta's free cash flow, or its cash flow left over after regular operations and capital expenditures are taken care of, took a huge hit in 2022, declining more than 50% year over year. But free cash flow for the year was still at $19 billion.

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Source Fool.com