RTTNews | Mar 12, 2021 09:57AM EST

09:56 Friday, March 12, 2021 (RTTNews.com) - Shares of L Brands Inc. (LB) reached a 52-week high of $61.12 Friday morning, and are currently trading at $60.30, up $4.45 or 7.97%, with trading volume rising over 1.39 million versus an average volume of 4.27 million shares.

The company, today, increased its first-quarter earnings guidance to a range of $0.55 - $0.65 per share from the prior range of $0.35 - $0.45 per share. The outlook excludes any charges related to the early extinguishment of debt. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $0.43 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude certain special items.

The company said its board authorized the repayment of $1.035 billion of debt through a call of all $285 million of the outstanding bonds due February 15, 2022 and all $750 million of the outstanding secured bonds due July 1, 2025. The company anticipates using $1.1 billion in cash to complete the debt repayment.

Further, the company's board authorized a new $500 million share repurchase plan. It includes the company's entry into a Rule 10b5-1 repurchase plan to effectuate share repurchases up to $250 million. The new repurchase plan replaces the remaining $79 million under the previously authorized program.

Also, L Brands' board authorized a reinstatement of the company's annual dividend at $0.60 per share, beginning with the quarterly dividend to be paid in June 2021.

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