Alpine Income Property Trust (NYSE: PINE) traces its history back to 2019, when it was spun off from CTO Realty Growth (NYSE: CTO). The small real estate investment trust (REIT) has actively looked to expand and improve its portfolio, but investors have not been particularly impressed. Management is open to all possibilities if the current discount relative to peers doesn't close.

When CTO shed Alpine, the point was to create two REITs with different goals. CTO has focused on strip malls and mixed-use developments. Alpine has focused on net-lease properties. In a net lease, the tenant is responsible for most of a property's operating costs. With a large enough portfolio, net-lease assets are fairly low risk. At its initial public offering (IPO), Alpine owned just 20 properties, including some large office buildings. It was not a low-risk portfolio.

However, since that point, CTO, which acts as an external manager, has made a lot of progress with Alpine's portfolio. It has increased the number of properties to 143, and sold off all of the office assets it owned. Now Alpine owns more generic retail properties that are much easier to maintain, buy, sell, and release. In addition, its geographic diversification has increased from 12 states to 35. And it has increased the dividend regularly, going from $0.06 at the time of its IPO (for a partial quarter) to the most recent payment of $0.27. The yield is a generous 5.9% today.

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Source Fool.com