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 Wells Fargo (WFC) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Wells Fargo generated $1.18B of operating cash flow and $1.18B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 100% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Wells Fargo (WFC) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Wells Fargo (WFC) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.18B

Capex

$0.00

Free Cash Flow

$1.18B

FCF Margin

+100.0%

Cash flow waterfall for Wells Fargo (WFC) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $1.18B

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

Cash flow breakdown for Wells Fargo (WFC) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.18B	$1.18B
Capital Expenditure	$0.00	$1.18B
Free Cash Flow	$1.18B	$1.18B
Other Investing	-$216B	-$215B
Share Buybacks	-$20B	-$235B
Dividends Paid	-$6.55B	-$241B
Net Debt Change	$154B	-$86.9B
Other Financing & FX	$84B	-$2.91B
Net Cash Decrease	-$2.91B	-$2.91B

Operating Cash Flow$1.18B
Capital Expenditure$0.00
Free Cash Flow$1.18B
Other Investing-$216B
Share Buybacks-$20B
Dividends Paid-$6.55B
Net Debt Change$154B
Other Financing & FX$84B
Net Cash Decrease-$2.91B

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

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