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 Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Mid-America Apartment Communities generated $1.03B of operating cash flow and $610M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 59.2% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.03B

Capex

-$421M

Free Cash Flow

$610M

FCF Margin

+59.2%

Cash flow waterfall for Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $610M

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

Cash flow breakdown for Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.03B	$1.03B
Capital Expenditure	-$421M	$610M
Free Cash Flow	$610M	$610M
Acquisitions	-$35.2M	$575M
Other Investing	-$295M	$280M
Share Buybacks	-$100M	$180M
Dividends Paid	-$714M	-$535M
Net Debt Change	$604M	$69.6M
Other Financing & FX	-$54.2M	$15.4M
Net Cash Increase	$15.4M	$15.4M

Operating Cash Flow$1.03B
Capital Expenditure-$421M
Free Cash Flow$610M
Acquisitions-$35.2M
Other Investing-$295M
Share Buybacks-$100M
Dividends Paid-$714M
Net Debt Change$604M
Other Financing & FX-$54.2M
Net Cash Increase$15.4M

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

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Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA) Key Financials

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Income Statement

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Profitability

Operating Margin27.4%

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Capital Return

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Operations

Employees100.0

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