Texas Pacific Land Corporation (TPL, Financial) is a large owner of surface and royalty interests in the PermianBasin in Texas. The company also provides water management and land management services to support oil and gas production in the basin. The stock performed well during the quarter for a couple reasons. First, the price of crude oil (WTI) increased 22% which directly benefits the royalty payments the company receives. Second, the company converted its structure from a land trust with a board of three trustees to a corporation with a full board of directors. This allows the company to issue debt or equity to support larger purchases of royalty interest packages. With this conversion, the company will also change its dividend frequency from annual to quarterly.
From Keeley Teton's Small Cap Dividend Value Fund first-quarter 2021 commentary.
