As of December 31, 2019, 114,246,393 shares of common stock of MAA and 4,067,174 OP Units (excluding the OP Units held by MAA) were issued and outstanding, representing a total of 118,313,567 common shares and units. As of December 31, 2018, 113,844,267 shares of common stock of MAA and 4,111,301 OP Units (excluding the OP Units held by MAA) were issued and outstanding, representing a total of 117,955,568 common shares and units.

As of December 31, 2019, MAA had one outstanding series of cumulative redeemable preferred stock which has the following characteristics:

Description		Outstanding Shares				Liquidation Preference⁽¹⁾				Optional Redemption Date		Redemption Price⁽²⁾				Stated Dividend Yield			Approximate Dividend Rate
Series I			867,846			$	50.00			10/1/2026		$	50.00			8.50%			$	4.25

See Note 6 for details of the valuation of the derivative asset related to the redemption feature embedded in the MAA Series I preferred stock.

MAA has a Dividend and Distribution Reinvestment and Share Purchase Plan, or DRSPP, pursuant to which MAA’s common shareholders have the ability to reinvest all or part of their distributions from MAA into shares of MAA’s common stock and holders of Class A OP Units have the ability to reinvest all or part of their distributions from the Operating Partnership into MAA’s common stock. The DRSPP also provides the opportunity to make optional cash investments in MAA's common stock of at least $250, but not more than $5,000 in any given month, free of brokerage commissions and charges. MAA, in its absolute discretion, may grant waivers to allow for optional cash payments in excess of $5,000. To fulfill its obligations under the DRSPP, MAA may either issue additional shares of common stock or repurchase common stock in the open market. MAA currently has registered with the SEC the offer and sale of up to 1,940,500 shares of common stock pursuant to the DRSPP. MAA may elect to sell shares under the DRSPP at up to a 5% discount. Shares of MAA's common stock totaling 16,219 in 2019, 9,721 in 2018, and 9,568 in 2017 were acquired by participants under the DRSPP. MAA did not offer a discount for optional cash purchases in 2019, 2018 or 2017.

The Company has entered into separate distribution agreements with each of J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, BMO Capital Markets Corp. and KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. to establish an at-the-market share offering program, or ATM program, allowing MAA to sell shares of its common stock from time to time into the existing market at current market prices or through negotiated transactions. Under the ATM program, MAA has the authority to issue up to an aggregate of 4.0 million shares of its common stock, at such times to be determined by MAA. The ATM program currently has a maturity of September 28, 2021. MAA has no obligation to issue shares through the ATM program.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, MAA sold 146,301 shares of common stock for net proceeds of $19.6 million through its ATM program, all of which shares were sold during the three months ended December 31, 2019. During the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, MAA did not sell any shares of common stock under its ATM program. As of December 31, 2019, there were 3.9 million shares remaining under the ATM program.