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 Markel (MKL) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Markel generated $2.4B of operating cash flow and $2.19B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 91.1% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Markel (MKL) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Markel (MKL) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$2.4B

Capex

-$213M

Free Cash Flow

$2.19B

FCF Margin

+91.1%

Cash flow waterfall for Markel (MKL) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $2.19B

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

Cash flow breakdown for Markel (MKL) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$2.4B	$2.4B
Capital Expenditure	-$213M	$2.19B
Free Cash Flow	$2.19B	$2.19B
Acquisitions	-$126M	$2.06B
Other Investing	-$1.39B	$670M
Share Buybacks	-$393M	$277M
Dividends Paid	-$618M	-$341M
Other Financing & FX	-$153M	-$494M
Net Cash Decrease	-$494M	-$494M

Operating Cash Flow$2.4B
Capital Expenditure-$213M
Free Cash Flow$2.19B
Acquisitions-$126M
Other Investing-$1.39B
Share Buybacks-$393M
Dividends Paid-$618M
Other Financing & FX-$153M
Net Cash Decrease-$494M

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

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