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 Essex Property Trust (ESS) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Essex Property Trust generated $1.08B of operating cash flow and $948M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 87.8% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Essex Property Trust (ESS) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Essex Property Trust (ESS) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.08B

Capex

-$132M

Free Cash Flow

$948M

FCF Margin

+87.8%

Cash flow waterfall for Essex Property Trust (ESS) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $948M

Cash flow breakdown for Essex Property Trust (ESS) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.08B	$1.08B
Capital Expenditure	-$132M	$948M
Free Cash Flow	$948M	$948M
Acquisitions	-$31.1M	$917M
Other Investing	-$227M	$690M
Share Buybacks	-$58M	$632M
Dividends Paid	-$662M	-$30.5M
Other Financing & FX	-$30M	-$60.5M
Net Cash Decrease	-$60.5M	-$60.5M

Operating Cash Flow$1.08B
Capital Expenditure-$132M
Free Cash Flow$948M
Acquisitions-$31.1M
Other Investing-$227M
Share Buybacks-$58M
Dividends Paid-$662M
Other Financing & FX-$30M
Net Cash Decrease-$60.5M

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

Frequently asked questions

Data & methodology

Essex Property Trust (ESS) Key Financials

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Income Statement

Balance Sheet

Profitability

Cash Flow

Capital Return

Forecast & Valuation

Operations

Employees1.7K

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Overview

ESS Overview