Social media giant Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) surprised Wall Street last week when it announced in its fourth-quarter financial report that it was initiating a quarterly dividend. A dividend is a sign of a maturing business that doesn't need to plow as much of its profits back into the company as it used to, so it instead shares them with investors.

But don't sleep on Meta because, as Q4 earnings admirably demonstrated, growth is still going strong. Now, dividend-focused investors are pondering Meta for the first time, figuring out how much dividend growth they might expect moving forward.

While Meta has shown it still loves buying back its stock, the company could have more dividend potential than most you'll find on Wall Street.

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Source Fool.com