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 Williams Companies (WMB) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Williams Companies generated $6.07B of operating cash flow and $722M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 11.9% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Williams Companies (WMB) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Williams Companies (WMB) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$6.07B

Capex

-$5.35B

Free Cash Flow

$722M

FCF Margin

+11.9%

Cash flow waterfall for Williams Companies (WMB) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $722M

Cash flow breakdown for Williams Companies (WMB) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$6.07B	$6.07B
Capital Expenditure	-$5.35B	$722M
Free Cash Flow	$722M	$722M
Acquisitions	$258M	$980M
Other Investing	-$101M	$879M
Dividends Paid	-$2.47B	-$1.6B
Net Debt Change	$2.31B	$716M
Other Financing & FX	$134M	$850M
Net Cash Increase	$850M	$850M

Operating Cash Flow$6.07B
Capital Expenditure-$5.35B
Free Cash Flow$722M
Acquisitions$258M
Other Investing-$101M
Dividends Paid-$2.47B
Net Debt Change$2.31B
Other Financing & FX$134M
Net Cash Increase$850M

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

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