Investors have to start asking themselves if it is time to start getting defensive. The stock market keeps hitting new highs, only to sell off. Uncertainty in China and Russia continue. The speculative biotech stocks have started to sell off. The rate of initial public offerings is off the charts, and companies keep selling shares in secondary offerings. Small-cap stocks also have kept running and running. This is generally the climate that equity investors who want to maintain exposure to stocks tend to become more defensive.

If investors believe that the stock market is going to rally 10% or 20%, they prefer growth stocks. If the market is frothy and acting like it is fairly valued or fully valued, the smart money investors go into defensive stocks. Generally these are low-growth, steady-eddie companies, with good dividends to boot.

As a reminder, the bull market is now more than five-years old. Also remember that the S&P 500 rose nearly 30% in 2013. If it is time to get defensive, what are some solid defensive stocks for investors now? 24/7 all St. looked over its universe of defensive go-to stocks to see which companies look best for worried and cautious investors.

Each of these has a solid dividend and is expected by analysts to rise, even in a flat market.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) immediately comes to mind. Yes, it has had problems and has underperformed the market. But AT&T leads all Dow Jones Industrial Average Stocks in dividends, with a yield of about 5.4%. We recently highlighted that money inflows were starting to pour into AT&T at a rate that could not be ignored. A price war is not good for any industry, but investors now seem less and less worried that AT&T will go make a big international acquisition. AT&T is cheap against the broad market at 13 times expected earnings. Trading at $34.65, it has a 52-week range of $31.74 to $39.00, and the consensus price target is now about $35.60.

American Water Works Company Inc. (NYSE: AWK) is the go-to stock for water investors, which is about as defensive as an investor can get. It is the largest public water utility in America, with around 14 million customers located in 40 states. Yet its market cap is only $8 billion. The water utility giant does not sound cheap at more than 18 times expected earnings, but this stock rarely has looked cheap because of its key market position. Trading at $45.00, it has a 52-week range of $38.70 to $45.48, and its consensus price target is $48.85. Investors also get a 2.5% dividend yield here.

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) needs almost no introduction, other than it is the largest consumer products giant by far in the United States. It also has served investors well any time they have bought P&G shares on pullbacks. At $79.75, P&G shares have a 52-week range of $73.61 to $85.82. Even though P&G trades at about 19 times expected earnings, investors get a dividend yield of 3.1%, and the consensus analyst price target is almost $87.00.

Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) is a company that keeps managing to remain influential. It has started to pick up its effort in the e-cigarettes market, and rumors of industry consolidation would make it even more defensive — plus it has a minority stake in SABMiller for beer. Trading at $36.50, Altria has a 52-week range of $33.12 to $38.58. The consensus price target from analysts is now $40.00. Altria also has a high dividend yield of 5.3% and a submarket valuation of 14 times expected earnings. This may change some day, but betting that the tobacco industry will disappear has just not ever worked.

The reality is that even defensive stocks will get hit if the market takes a very large drop or in a period of sustained selling. That being said, investors still seem to want upside in the stock market, but protection if the market pulls back. Defensive stocks are often the way to go for that strategy.

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