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 Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Cullen/Frost Bankers generated $807M of operating cash flow and $767M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 95% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$807M

Capex

-$40.2M

Free Cash Flow

$767M

FCF Margin

+95.0%

Cash flow waterfall for Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $767M

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

Cash flow breakdown for Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$807M	$807M
Capital Expenditure	-$40.2M	$767M
Free Cash Flow	$767M	$767M
Other Investing	-$1.07B	-$305M
Share Buybacks	-$228M	-$532M
Dividends Paid	-$264M	-$797M
Net Debt Change	-$366M	-$1.16B
Other Financing & FX	$454M	-$709M
Net Cash Decrease	-$709M	-$709M

Operating Cash Flow$807M
Capital Expenditure-$40.2M
Free Cash Flow$767M
Other Investing-$1.07B
Share Buybacks-$228M
Dividends Paid-$264M
Net Debt Change-$366M
Other Financing & FX$454M
Net Cash Decrease-$709M

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

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