Four Dallas-Fort Worth-based companies are among the top 50 in Fortune’s list of “World’s Most Admired Companies.”

The companies are Dallas-based Southwest Airlines at No. 8, Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp., whose U.S. headquarters is in Plano, at No. 29; Irving-based Exxon Mobil Corp. at No. 36, and Dallas-based AT&T Inc. at No. 49.

Southwest, ranked No. 138 on the Fortune 500 list, received an overall score of 6.38 and also was ranked at No. 8 in last year’s list of the most admired companies. Exxon Mobil, ranked No. 4 in the Fortune 500 list, and previously ranked No. 40 on the list of most admired companies.

California-based Apple topped the most admired list at No. 1, with Seattle-based Amazon at No. 2.

MOST ADMIRED CULLED FROM LIST OF 1,500 CONTENDERS

The list was ranked based on voting by 3,900 executives, analysts, directors, and experts, according to Fortune.

Fortune compiled its list with its partner, Korn Ferry, beginning with roughly 1,500 candidates — the 1,000 largest U.S. companies as well as non-U.S. companies on Fortune‘s Global 500 database that have revenues of $10 billion or more.

The companies were whittled to 680 in 29 countries — the highest revenue companies in each category. The top-rated companies came from that list of 680.

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