** Shares of homebuilder Toll Brothers TOL.N rise 1.4% to $139.06 premarket

** KBW upgrades rating to "outperform" from "market perform"

** Says upgrade reflects "resilient luxury demand, a long-land inflation hedge, and improved fundamental tone coming out of Q2"

** Brokerage lifts TOL price target to $161 from $158, representing a 17.4% upside to the last close

** Says TOL's affluent positioning insulates it from entry-level softness amid challenging, K-shaped housing market, with a buyer base of high credit scores, large downpayments and meaningful cash-buyers

** 14 of 20 brokerages rate the stock "buy" or higher, 5 "hold" and 1 "sell"; their median PT is $165 - LSEG-compiled data

** As of last close, stock had risen 1.4% YTD