What is a cash flow waterfall?

A cash flow waterfall is a bar chart that walks from operating cash flow through capital expenditure to free cash flow, then shows how the remaining cash is allocated — acquisitions, buybacks, dividends, debt, and other financing — ending at the net change in cash. Each step is colour-coded: green bars add to the running total, red bars subtract.

How does American Financial Group (AFG) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, American Financial Group generated $1.67B of operating cash flow and $1.57B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 94.4% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did American Financial Group (AFG) return via buybacks and dividends?

The waterfall shows buybacks (share repurchases) and dividends paid as separate steps in the financing section. Together these represent American Financial Group's shareholder returns for TTM through Q1 2026. You can compare these against free cash flow to assess the capital-return payout ratio.

American Financial Group (AFG) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.67B

Capex

-$94M

Free Cash Flow

$1.57B

FCF Margin

+94.4%

Cash flow waterfall for American Financial Group (AFG) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $1.57B

Cash flow breakdown for American Financial Group (AFG) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.67B	$1.67B
Capital Expenditure	-$94M	$1.57B
Free Cash Flow	$1.57B	$1.57B
Acquisitions	-$1.05B	$523M
Other Investing	-$329M	$194M
Share Buybacks	-$101M	$93M
Dividends Paid	-$571M	-$478M
Net Debt Change	$344M	-$134M
Other Financing & FX	$211M	$77M
Net Cash Increase	$77M	$77M

Operating Cash Flow$1.67B
Capital Expenditure-$94M
Free Cash Flow$1.57B
Acquisitions-$1.05B
Other Investing-$329M
Share Buybacks-$101M
Dividends Paid-$571M
Net Debt Change$344M
Other Financing & FX$211M
Net Cash Increase$77M

Want to see what drove the FCF change?Free Cash Flow Bridge

Frequently asked questions

Data & methodology

American Financial Group (AFG) Key Financials

Charts, filings, and peer comparison for every metric

Income Statement

Balance Sheet

Profitability

Cash Flow

Capital Return

Forecast & Valuation

Operations

Employees8.5K

Explore more

Deep-dives across the income statement, cash flow, capital return, and valuation

Overview

AFG Overview

Counters