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 United Bankshares (UBSI) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, United Bankshares generated $540M of operating cash flow and $527M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 97.6% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did United Bankshares (UBSI) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

United Bankshares (UBSI) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$540M

Capex

-$12.9M

Free Cash Flow

$527M

FCF Margin

+97.6%

Cash flow waterfall for United Bankshares (UBSI) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $527M

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

Cash flow breakdown for United Bankshares (UBSI) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$540M	$540M
Capital Expenditure	-$12.9M	$527M
Free Cash Flow	$527M	$527M
Other Investing	-$1.17B	-$645M
Share Buybacks	-$177M	-$822M
Dividends Paid	-$212M	-$1.03B
Net Debt Change	-$18.1M	-$1.05B
Other Financing & FX	$747M	-$305M
Net Cash Decrease	-$305M	-$305M

Operating Cash Flow$540M
Capital Expenditure-$12.9M
Free Cash Flow$527M
Other Investing-$1.17B
Share Buybacks-$177M
Dividends Paid-$212M
Net Debt Change-$18.1M
Other Financing & FX$747M
Net Cash Decrease-$305M

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

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