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 UnitedHealth Group (UNH) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q2 2026, UnitedHealth Group generated $27B of operating cash flow and $23.6B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 87.4% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did UnitedHealth Group (UNH) return via buybacks and dividends?

The waterfall shows buybacks (share repurchases) and dividends paid as separate steps in the financing section. Together these represent UnitedHealth Group's shareholder returns for TTM through Q2 2026. You can compare these against free cash flow to assess the capital-return payout ratio.

UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$27B

Capex

-$3.4B

Free Cash Flow

$23.6B

FCF Margin

+87.4%

Cash flow waterfall for UnitedHealth Group (UNH) — TTM through Q2 2026

Free cash flow: $23.6B

Cash flow breakdown for UnitedHealth Group (UNH) — TTM through Q2 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$27B	$27B
Capital Expenditure	-$3.4B	$23.6B
Free Cash Flow	$23.6B	$23.6B
Acquisitions	-$3.87B	$19.7B
Other Investing	-$3.97B	$15.8B
Share Buybacks	-$1.65B	$14.1B
Dividends Paid	-$8.1B	$6.03B
Net Debt Change	-$5.65B	$378M
Other Financing	-$16M	$362M
Forex Effect	$3.41B	$3.77B
Net Cash Increase	$3.77B	$3.77B

Operating Cash Flow$27B
Capital Expenditure-$3.4B
Free Cash Flow$23.6B
Acquisitions-$3.87B
Other Investing-$3.97B
Share Buybacks-$1.65B
Dividends Paid-$8.1B
Net Debt Change-$5.65B
Other Financing-$16M
Forex Effect$3.41B
Net Cash Increase$3.77B

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

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