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 Aflac (AFL) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Aflac generated $2.93B of operating cash flow and $2.93B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 100% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Aflac (AFL) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Aflac (AFL) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$2.93B

Capex

$0.00

Free Cash Flow

$2.93B

FCF Margin

+100.0%

Cash flow waterfall for Aflac (AFL) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $2.93B

Note: Other Investing is large — driven mainly by purchases or sales of investments.

Cash flow breakdown for Aflac (AFL) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$2.93B	$2.93B
Capital Expenditure	$0.00	$2.93B
Free Cash Flow	$2.93B	$2.93B
Other Investing	$2.16B	$5.1B
Share Buybacks	-$3.63B	$1.47B
Dividends Paid	-$1.2B	$272M
Net Debt Change	$555M	$827M
Other Financing	-$299M	$528M
Forex Effect	-$105M	$423M
Net Cash Increase	$423M	$423M

Operating Cash Flow$2.93B
Capital Expenditure$0.00
Free Cash Flow$2.93B
Other Investing$2.16B
Share Buybacks-$3.63B
Dividends Paid-$1.2B
Net Debt Change$555M
Other Financing-$299M
Forex Effect-$105M
Net Cash Increase$423M

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

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