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 Principal Financial Group (PFG) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Principal Financial Group generated $3.75B of operating cash flow and $3.63B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 96.9% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Principal Financial Group (PFG) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Principal Financial Group (PFG) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$3.75B

Capex

-$115M

Free Cash Flow

$3.63B

FCF Margin

+96.9%

Cash flow waterfall for Principal Financial Group (PFG) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $3.63B

Note: Other Investing is large — driven mainly by acquisitions and investment activity.

Cash flow breakdown for Principal Financial Group (PFG) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$3.75B	$3.75B
Capital Expenditure	-$115M	$3.63B
Free Cash Flow	$3.63B	$3.63B
Other Investing	-$4.03B	-$396M
Share Buybacks	-$897M	-$1.29B
Dividends Paid	-$689M	-$1.98B
Net Debt Change	-$412M	-$2.39B
Other Financing & FX	$2.57B	$178M
Net Cash Increase	$178M	$178M

Operating Cash Flow$3.75B
Capital Expenditure-$115M
Free Cash Flow$3.63B
Other Investing-$4.03B
Share Buybacks-$897M
Dividends Paid-$689M
Net Debt Change-$412M
Other Financing & FX$2.57B
Net Cash Increase$178M

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

Frequently asked questions

Data & methodology

Principal Financial Group (PFG) Key Financials

Charts, filings, and peer comparison for every metric

Income Statement

Balance Sheet

Profitability

Cash Flow

Capital Return

Forecast & Valuation

Operations

Employees19.7K

Explore more

Deep-dives across the income statement, cash flow, capital return, and valuation

Overview

PFG Overview

Counters