Equity & Income Funds

1 Alpine Dynamic Dividend FundInstitutional Class (ADVDX)Class A (ADAVX)Alpine Rising Dividend FundInstitutional Class (AADDX)Class A (AAADX)Alpine Financial Services FundInstitutional Class (ADFSX)Class A (ADAFX)Alpine Small Cap FundInstitutional Class (ADINX)Class A (ADIAX)Alpine Ultra Short Municipal Income FundInstitutional Class (ATOIX)Class A (ATOAX)Alpine High Yield Managed Duration Municipal FundInstitutional Class (AHYMX)Class A (AAHMX)Annual Report2017 October 31, Equity & Income 312/22/17 9:07 PMTABLE OFCONTENTSA dditional Alpine Funds are offered in the Alpine Equity Trust. These Funds include:Alpine International Real Estate Equity FundAlpine Global Infrastructure FundAlpine Realty Income & Growth FundAlpine s Real Estate Funds investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses must be considered carefully beforeinvesting in Funds of the Alpine Equity Trust.

2 The statutory and summary prospectuses contain this and other importantinformation about the investment company, and it may be obtained by calling 1-888-785-5578, or Read it carefully before fund investing involves risk. Principal loss is s Investment Outlook1 Equity Manager ReportsAlpine Dynamic Dividend fund 7 Alpine Rising Dividend fund 13 Alpine Financial Services fund 19 Alpine Small Cap fund 25 Fixed Income Manager ReportsAlpine Ultra Short Municipal Income fund 31 Alpine High Yield Managed Duration Municipal fund 34 Schedules of Portfolio Investments 44 Statements of Assets and Liabilities 72 Statements of Operations 74 Statements of Changes in Net Assets 76 Financial Highlights 82 Notes to Financial Statements 94 Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm 112 Information about your Funds Expenses 113 Additional Information 12/22/17 8:56 PM Page toc2 Alpine s Investment Outlook1 Dear Shareholders.

3 During the fiscal year ended October 31, 2017, the equitymarkets finally side-stepped their broad apprehension,which has been a characteristic of market sentiment sincethe great financial collapse of 2008. As we pointed out inprior reports to shareholders, the market was greatlyconcerned about either the risks of imminent inflation dueto the stimulative effects of loose monetary policy, oralternatively, a deflation drag due to over-capacity andstructural imbalances remaining from prior the Federal Reserve s (Fed) warning of animminent transition from quantitative easing (QE) towardsnormalization back in May of 2013, the capital marketssuffered from a taper tantrum before assuming analternating risk-on/risk-off mode that persisted well into2015. However, in the fourth quarter of 2015, a speculativecommodity boom that had become a bust lasting intoFebruary of 2016, re-engaged persistent fears of globaleconomic deflation.

4 As it turned out, the economy foundits footing and markets recovered through 2016, andultimately produced double-digit returns this year, asinvestors have bought equities to capture corporategrowth. Strong economic reports have become moreconsistent and corporate earnings and revenue growthappears more sustainable as we approach Equity markets focus this year has been particularlystrong for growth stocks, as opposed to value stocks orstocks of stable defensive companies. In particular, themarket has been focused on top-line revenue growth andcompanies with strong profitability. Interestingly, themarket has also favored companies with relatively lowfinancial leverage and, thus, a greater margin of which combined these characteristics performedparticularly well. Notably, we appear to be in the midst ofa synchronized global economic recovery in which GrossDomestic Product (GDP) has been supported by strongorders for goods and services, witness regional andnational purchasing managers indices (PMI) andimproving employment data.

5 This has given corporationsthe ability to increase sales volumes, which has historicallyimproved profit margins, and in combination withtightening labor markets, is leading to the first signs ofwage growth in select sectors and geographies. Wagegrowth may lead to increased consumption patterns asgrowing job confidence and incomes induce people tospend more freely, which in turn can stimulatecorporations to increase their capital expenditures fornew production facilities and equipment. This, in turn,leads to more jobs and new products for consumers. Sincethe accounts for roughly 25% of the global GDP, it isnatural for us to lead the rest of the world out of periodsof economic doldrums. China is almost 15% of the globalGDP and it too has been growing quite strongly, until thepast quarter or so when it has shown signs of said, the Eurozone, which is slightly larger thanChina, and Japan, which is roughly half its size, are bothpicking up the slack, so we expect continued globalrecovery over the next several quarters at a CUTSAn element of uncertainty has been introduced by Republican Congress which is planning to put forthan economic stimulative program, packaged as taxreform.

6 This has been cooked up in old school style,in back rooms with no transparency, nor based on specificintellectual precepts or schools of thought, this grab bagrestructuring of the tax code is in some ways progressive,in other ways regressive, both positive and negative, andwhich will no doubt be beneficial to some and negativefor others in our economy. On the surface, it is positive forcorporations, many of whom should see lower tax ratesand it is intended to stimulate capital investment in theshort-term through accelerated depreciation of newinvestments (as low as one year down from five totwenty!), which offsets taxes. Companies which repatriatecapital from overseas will have very low (6-12%) recapturerates if they bring money home (estimates that $1-2trillion may come back over several years).

7 However,investment in research and development (R&D) for betterfuture products do not receive such benefit. This shouldbe positive for stocks in that it will no doubt lead to morecorporate buy-backs and special dividends forshareholders, and we may well see a short-terminvestment boom over the next 12-18 months. Such ajumpstart would have been useful back in 2009 or 2010but may create a boom/bust surge in activity which couldinduce the Fed to rapidly defend against inflation. Ofcourse, we do not know what percentage of the trillionsheld abroad held by companies such as Apple andMicrosoft, among others, will be repatriated nor, the 12/22/17 8:56 PM Page 1details of the tax rates. So, we await and hope it will bemore rational than feared. Nevertheless, the significancewill likely be a short-term stimulus effect, with potentialnegative implications for the long-term when the paybackfor these tax cuts could come in the form of deficits whichneed to be reduced.

8 That said capital markets may take along-term perspective, pushing interest rates higher toreflect this. Fundamentally, just as the (and global)economy is getting stronger, we believe it would be betterto stimulate future growth by targeting betterinfrastructure and education and R&D for promisingtechnologies and products, rather than to get a quickboost followed by rapidly rising interest RATESThe Fed has made it clear that they are looking forward toraising interest rates in December 2017 and then again upto four times in 2018. We believe that it may only be twoor three increases after the Fed Funds Rate rises today to above in December, probably by early Summer 2018, and at least by year-end 2018. It should be noted that the Fed s dot plot hasrates rising to over 2% by year end 2018 and over byyear end 2019.

9 Much depends on the impact of theaforementioned new tax plan and the rate at which othercentral banks begin to withdraw from quantitativeeasing. Our concern is that the current Goldilocks environment of very low interest rates and moderateeconomic activity, which has been so beneficial for thestock market, may be upset if interest rates rise morequickly than the Fed has guided and if Funds retreat fromthe capital Alpine s view, the fundamental reason for the growth instock market performance for the past year lies principallywith the growth in corporate earnings. Particular focus oncompanies growing business sales which can providedouble-digit earnings growth has been very appealing at atime when many investment returns, notably interest orrental yields, are producing low single-digit returns.

10 Fornext year, the Equity markets are forecast to grow earningson the order of 6-12% depending on whether or not therewill be a notable tax benefit. This compares with about 8-15% for emerging markets, which have also performedstrongly in the past year. So even though stock marketmultiples appear high by historical standards, we are stillenjoying the rare combination of double-digit earningsgrowth and single-digit interest rates. Thus, dividendscould provide an attractive support for Equity prices. Ourfocus will continue to be on what we have in the pastcalled growth values, and on the transformative potentialof mispriced believe that certain sectors of the Equity market arenow more favored than others as the markets rotate morethoroughly towards growth. This could be perceived as avery positive environment for financial stocks whichshowed a spurt from investor interest at the beginning ofthe fiscal year and now may find a more sustained interestwith a steeper yield curve and continued growingdemand for capital.