Operating cash flow of roughly $3.9B cumulative across ten quarters decoupled from GAAP earnings, yet capital return of about $4.4B in buybacks and $0.94B in dividends exceeded cumulative OCF, warranting further investigation into payout durability.
Equitable Holdings, Inc. (EQH) cash flow statement — 11-year operating, investing & financing cash flows
| Metric | TTM | Dec'25 | Dec'24 | Dec'23 | Dec'22 | Dec'21 | Dec'20 | Dec'19 | Dec'18 | Dec'17 | Dec'16 | Dec'15 |
|---|
| Cash from Operations | 2.69B | 713M | 1.64B | -208M | -250M | -193M | -61M | -216M | 61M | -243M | -236M | -192M |
| Operating CF Growth % | 1374.86% | -56.47% | 887.5% | 16.8% | -29.53% | -216.39% | 71.76% | -454.1% | 125.1% | -2.97% | -22.92% | - |
| Operating CF / Revenue % | 20.65% | 6.11% | 13.17% | -1.98% | -1.98% | -2.53% | -0.49% | -2.25% | 0.51% | -1.95% | -2.01% | -1.9% |
| Net Income | 1.5B | -1.38B | 1.31B | 1.3B | 2.39B | 388M | -349M | -1.47B | 2.15B | 1.26B | 1.65B | 658M |
| Depreciation & Amortization | 837M | 872M | 868M | 812M | 636M | 519M | 1.76B | 675M | 296M | 399M | 758M | 9M |
| Stock-Based Compensation | 85M | 0 | 0 | -144M | 328M | 274M | 210M | 278M | 228M | 247M | 213M | 243M |
| Deferred Taxes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other Non-Cash Items | 2.15B | 4.68B | 1.12B | 434M | -2.22B | 983M | -1.79B | 728M | -2.17B | -2.78B | -3.11B | -1.27B |
| Working Capital Changes | -2.16B | -3.46B | -1.66B | -2.61B | -1.39B | -2.36B | 110M | -430M | -448M | 637M | 254M | 169M |
| Cash from Investing | -11.57B | -10.75B | -15.36B | -4.85B | -7.49B | -12.69B | -7.82B | -8.5B | -2.05B | -9.69B | -5.77B | -2.14B |
| Capital Expenditures | -42M | -34M | -153M | -117M | -167M | -120M | -107M | -93M | -123M | -102M | -97M | -83M |
| Acquisitions | 67M | 214M | 340M | 0 | 40M | 0 | 219M | 0 | -472M | -130M | -21M | 0 |
| Purchase of Investments | -33.25B | -33.63B | -31.25B | -18.03B | -21.33B | -51.34B | -30.31B | -34.46B | -29.25B | -33.39B | -24.99B | -27.19B |
| Sale/Maturity of Investments | 20.13B | 22.94B | 14.9B | 15.26B | 17.02B | 40.44B | 23.82B | 26.69B | 26.82B | 22.57B | 20.05B | 25.21B |
| Other Investing | 1.52B | -274M | 795M | -1.97B | -3.05B | -1.68B | -1.44B | -627M | 978M | 1.36B | -709M | -78M |
| Cash from Financing | 13.08B | 15.5B | 12.1B | 9B | 7.04B | 11.95B | 9.67B | 8.71B | 1.66B | 9.07B | 5.11B | 2.9B |
| Dividends Paid | -372M | -375M | -382M | -381M | -374M | -375M | -350M | -285M | -157M | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Share Repurchases | -1.16B | -2.82B | -1.26B | -1.06B | -1.06B | -1.9B | -579M | -1.52B | -2.25B | -275M | -236M | -214M |
| Stock Issued | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 293M | 494M | 775M | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Debt Issuance (Net) | 2M | 1000K | -1000K | 1000K | -1000K | 1000K | 1000K | -1000K | 1000K | 1000K | -1000K | -1000K |
| Other Financing | 13.93B | 18.41B | 14.55B | 9.54B | 8.54B | 13.32B | 9.81B | 10.1B | 3.01B | 8.61B | 6.97B | 3.51B |
| Net Change in Cash | 4.2B | 5.5B | -1.64B | 3.96B | -907M | -991M | 1.77B | -64M | -345M | -840M | -903M | 555M |
| Exchange Rate Effect | -3M | 36M | -20M | 23M | -215M | -56M | -17M | -57M | -12M | 22M | -10M | -10M |
| Cash at Beginning | 17.18B | 7.46B | 9.11B | 4.28B | 5.19B | 6.18B | 4.41B | 4.47B | 4.81B | 5.65B | 6.56B | 6B |
| Cash at End | 17.73B | 12.96B | 7.46B | 8.24B | 4.28B | 5.19B | 6.18B | 4.41B | 4.47B | 4.81B | 5.65B | 6.56B |
| Free Cash Flow | 2.67B | 679M | 1.49B | -325M | -417M | -313M | -168M | -309M | -62M | -345M | -333M | -275M |
| FCF Growth % | 127.66% | -54.28% | 556.92% | 22.06% | -33.23% | -86.31% | 45.63% | -398.39% | 82.03% | -3.6% | -21.09% | - |
| FCF Margin % | 20.5% | 5.82% | 11.94% | -3.09% | -3.3% | -4.11% | -1.35% | -3.21% | -0.51% | -2.77% | -2.83% | -2.73% |
| FCF per Share | 9.78 | 2.28 | 4.57 | -0.92 | -1.1 | -0.75 | -0.37 | -0.63 | -0.11 | -0.61 | -0.59 | -0.49 |
Quick answers to the most common questions about buying EQH stock.
Equitable Holdings, Inc. (EQH) generated $713.0M in net cash from operating activities in 2025. This reflects the cash generated directly from core business operations.
Equitable Holdings, Inc. (EQH) generated $679.0M in free cash flow in 2025. Free cash flow is the cash left over after capital expenditures, which can be used to pay dividends, repurchase shares, or pay down debt.
Equitable Holdings, Inc. (EQH) spent $34.0M on capital expenditures in 2025. CapEx represents the cash invested in physical assets like property, plant, and equipment to maintain or grow the business.
In 2025, Equitable Holdings, Inc. (EQH) returned $375.0M to shareholders via cash dividends and spent $2.82B on share repurchases. This shows the company's commitment to returning capital to its equity investors.
Key Metrics
Top Statement Risk
Capital return outpacing OCF
Metrics are mathematically derived from official filings.
Claims Spikes Mask Stable Float
Operating cash flow remained positive in nine of ten quarters at roughly $3.9B cumulative, even as quarterly net income swung between -$1.3B and $899M, according to Equitable's reported figures, suggesting premium collection timing rather than statutory results is driving actual liquidity generation.
Claims payments fell from $1.7B in 2025Q3 to $420M in 2026Q2, a decline that appears more consistent with the abatement of the episodic reserve and claims event flagged in the prior quarter than with any structural improvement in underwriting economics. The re-spiking of the combined ratio to 129.7% in 2026Q2, alongside that quarter's positive OCF, suggests near-term liquidity is being sustained by premium inflow timing and investment income rather than recurring underwriting profitability, which investors should treat as a quality distinction when assessing float durability.
Reinvestment Outstrips Portfolio Sales
Equitable's investment portfolio absorbed roughly $30.6B of net purchases across the ten quarters shown, with purchases of $9.8B in 2026Q2 versus sales of $6.0B, per reported figures, indicating the general account is being actively expanded rather than liquidated to fund operations or capital return.
Quarterly sales have risen from $2.6B in 2024Q1 to $6.0B in 2026Q2, which may reflect maturing assets being redeployed at higher reinvestment yields in a rising rate environment, or deliberate rotation — the provided data does not distinguish between these, and analysts should not assume yield capture without reinvestment detail. Net reinvestment averaging roughly $3B per quarter implies the general account is growing, which would typically support spread income but also enlarges the duration and credit exposure relevant to the flagged commercial real estate concentration.
OCF Decoupled From GAAP Earnings
Operating cash conversion ranged from -5.17x to 6.83x net income over the ten-quarter window, with 2026Q2 producing $643M of OCF against a -$453M net loss, based on Equitable's reported cash flow statements, underscoring that accounting earnings and liquidity generation are running on materially different tracks.
The disconnect appears driven by the same DAC unlocking, hedging mark-to-market, and reserve adjustments that produced the 129.7% combined ratio and negative GAAP margins, most of which are non-cash or timing differences in the period recognized. For investors, the implication is that the $1.70 non-GAAP operating EPS beat may not translate proportionally into distributable cash, meaning dividend and buyback capacity cannot be underwritten from reported earnings alone without examining the underlying cash generation sources.
Capital Return Outpaces Operating Cash
Equitable returned roughly $4.4B via buybacks and about $0.94B in dividends over the ten-quarter period, exceeding cumulative operating cash flow of approximately $3.9B, according to the company's reported cash flow statements, raising questions about the durability of the payout at current operating run-rates.
Dividends have been notably steady at $87M–$104M per quarter, but buyback intensity has varied widely from $147M in 2026Q1 to $1.3B in 2025Q2, suggesting the repurchase program is opportunistic rather than committed, which may give management flexibility to modulate buybacks if operating cash flow weakens. Since portfolio sales averaged roughly $4.6B per quarter while net purchases remained positive, capital return does not appear to be funded by liquidation of the general account, but the gap between payout and operating generation warrants monitoring alongside the capital demands of the Corebridge merger.
What Cash Flow Statement Obscures
The statements show consistently positive OCF but offer no visibility into reinsurance recoverable quality, unrestricted statutory cash levels, or the cash drag from the Corebridge merger, which company disclosures indicate carries integration costs and regulatory delay risk that warrants further investigation.
The roughly $1.4B gap between cumulative capital return (~$5.3B) and operating cash flow (~$3.9B) may be bridged by investment portfolio turnover, intercompany cash from AllianceBernstein, or borrowing — the provided data does not disaggregate these sources, and it would be an analytical error to assume the payout is fully supported by recurring underwriting generation. Additionally, the single negative OCF quarter (-$80M in 2025Q4) coincided with a heavy claims year and large purchases, suggesting a repeat of a reserve- or catastrophe-driven quarter could compress liquidity quickly — a scenario the trailing presentation obscures by averaging strong and weak periods together.