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 Community Bank System (CBU) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Community Bank System generated $311M of operating cash flow and $226M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 72.8% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Community Bank System (CBU) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Community Bank System (CBU) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$311M

Capex

-$84.6M

Free Cash Flow

$226M

FCF Margin

+72.8%

Cash flow waterfall for Community Bank System (CBU) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $226M

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

Cash flow breakdown for Community Bank System (CBU) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$311M	$311M
Capital Expenditure	-$84.6M	$226M
Free Cash Flow	$226M	$226M
Acquisitions	$457M	$683M
Other Investing	-$727M	-$43.5M
Share Buybacks	-$26.6M	-$70.2M
Dividends Paid	-$98.1M	-$168M
Net Debt Change	$304M	$136M
Other Financing & FX	-$81.6M	$54.2M
Net Cash Increase	$54.2M	$54.2M

Operating Cash Flow$311M
Capital Expenditure-$84.6M
Free Cash Flow$226M
Acquisitions$457M
Other Investing-$727M
Share Buybacks-$26.6M
Dividends Paid-$98.1M
Net Debt Change$304M
Other Financing & FX-$81.6M
Net Cash Increase$54.2M

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

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