Item 5. Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc.

Market Information

MAA's common stock has been listed and traded on the NYSE under the symbol "MAA" since its initial public offering in February 1994. On February 18, 2019, there were approximately 2,700 holders of record of the common stock. MAA believes it has a significantly larger number of beneficial owners of its common stock.

Direct Stock Purchase and Distribution Reinvestment Plan

We have established the dividend and distribution reinvestment stock purchase plan, or DRSPP, under which holders of common stock, preferred stock and OP Units can elect to automatically reinvest their distributions in shares of MAA common stock. The DRSPP also allows for the optional purchase of MAA common stock of at least $250, but not more than$5,000 in any given month, free of brokerage commissions and charges. In our absolute discretion, we may grant waivers to allow for optional cash payments in excess of $5,000. To fulfill our obligations under the DRSPP, we may either issue additional shares of common stock or repurchase common stock in the open market. We may elect to sell shares under the DRSPP at up to a 5% discount. In 2018, 2017, and 2016, we had issuances with no discounts through our DRSPP of 9,721 shares, 9,568 shares, and 7,906 shares, respectively.

Mid-America Apartments, L.P.

Operating Partnership Units

There is no established public trading market for the Operating Partnership's OP Units. From time-to-time, we issue shares of MAA's common stock in exchange for OP Units tendered to the Operating Partnership for redemption in accordance with the provisions of the Operating Partnership’s limited partnership agreement. As of December 31, 2018, there were 117,955,568 OP Units outstanding in the Operating Partnership, of which 113,844,267 OP Units, or 96.5%, were owned by MAA and 4,111,301 OP Units, or 3.5%, were owned by limited partners. Under the terms of the Operating Partnership’s limited partnership agreement, the limited partner holders of OP Units have the right to require the Operating Partnership to redeem all or a portion of the OP Units held by the holder in exchange for one share of MAA common stock per one OP Unit or a cash payment based on the market value of MAA's common stock at the time of redemption, at the option of MAA. During the year ended December 31, 2018, MAA issued a total of 80,283 shares of common stock upon redemption of OP Units.

At-the-Market Offering

We have entered into distribution agreements with J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, BMO Capital Markets Corp. and KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. to sell up to an aggregate of 4.0 million shares of common stock, from time-to-time in at-the-market offerings or negotiated transactions through controlled equity offering programs, or ATMs. As of December 31, 2018, there were 4.0 million shares available to be sold under the ATMs.

Stock Repurchase Plan

On December 8, 2015, MAA's Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to 4.0 million shares of MAA common stock, which represented approximately 5.3% of MAA's common stock outstanding at the time of such authorization. The December 2015 authorization replaced and superseded any previous authorization. From time to time, we may repurchase shares under the current authorization when we believe that shareholder value would be enhanced. Factors affecting this determination include, among others, the share price and expected rates of return. As of December 31, 2018, no shares have been repurchased under the current authorization.

Purchases of Equity Securities

The following table reflects repurchases of shares of MAA's common stock during the three months ended December 31, 2018:

Comparison of Five-year Cumulative Total Returns

The following graph compares the cumulative total returns of the shareholders of MAA since December 31, 2013 with the S&P 500 Index and the FTSE NAREIT Equity REIT Index. The graph assumes that the base share price for our common stock and each index is $100 and that all dividends are reinvested. The performance graph is not necessarily indicative of future investment performance.