diff --git a/src/components/fx/hover.js b/src/components/fx/hover.js
index 3d326d007cc..cd78c93aebc 100644
--- a/src/components/fx/hover.js
+++ b/src/components/fx/hover.js
@@ -1126,7 +1126,7 @@ function alignHoverText(hoverLabels, rotateLabels) {
             offsetY = d.offset;
         if(d.anchor === 'middle') {
             txx -= d.tx2width / 2;
-            tx2x -= d.tx2width / 2;
+            tx2x += d.txwidth / 2 + HOVERTEXTPAD;
         }
         if(rotateLabels) {
             offsetY *= -YSHIFTY;
@@ -1135,7 +1135,8 @@ function alignHoverText(hoverLabels, rotateLabels) {
 
         g.select('path').attr('d', d.anchor === 'middle' ?
             // middle aligned: rect centered on data
-            ('M-' + (d.bx / 2) + ',-' + (d.by / 2) + 'h' + d.bx + 'v' + d.by + 'h-' + d.bx + 'Z') :
+            ('M-' + (d.bx / 2 + d.tx2width / 2) + ',-' + (d.by / 2) +
+              'h' + d.bx + 'v' + d.by + 'h-' + d.bx + 'Z') :
             // left or right aligned: side rect with arrow to data
             ('M0,0L' + (horzSign * HOVERARROWSIZE + offsetX) + ',' + (HOVERARROWSIZE + offsetY) +
                 'v' + (d.by / 2 - HOVERARROWSIZE) +
diff --git a/test/jasmine/tests/hover_label_test.js b/test/jasmine/tests/hover_label_test.js
index d0b16cb905c..d279891317f 100644
--- a/test/jasmine/tests/hover_label_test.js
+++ b/test/jasmine/tests/hover_label_test.js
@@ -1109,6 +1109,92 @@ describe('hover info', function() {
         });
 
     });
+
+    describe('centered', function() {
+        var trace1 = {
+            x: ['giraffes'],
+            y: [5],
+            name: 'LA Zoo',
+            type: 'bar',
+            text: ['Way too long hover info!']
+        };
+        var trace2 = {
+            x: ['giraffes'],
+            y: [5],
+            name: 'SF Zoo',
+            type: 'bar',
+            text: ['San Francisco']
+        };
+        var data = [trace1, trace2];
+        var layout = {width: 600, height: 300, barmode: 'stack'};
+
+        var gd;
+
+        beforeEach(function(done) {
+            gd = createGraphDiv();
+            Plotly.plot(gd, data, layout).then(done);
+        });
+
+        function centeredHoverInfoNodes() {
+            var g = d3.selectAll('g.hoverlayer g.hovertext').filter(function() {
+                return !d3.select(this).select('[data-unformatted="LA Zoo"]').empty();
+            });
+
+            return {
+                primaryText: g.select('text:not([data-unformatted="LA Zoo"])').node(),
+                primaryBox: g.select('path').node(),
+                secondaryText: g.select('[data-unformatted="LA Zoo"]').node(),
+                secondaryBox: g.select('rect').node()
+            };
+        }
+
+        function ensureCentered(hoverInfoNodes) {
+            expect(hoverInfoNodes.primaryText.getAttribute('text-anchor')).toBe('middle');
+            expect(hoverInfoNodes.secondaryText.getAttribute('text-anchor')).toBe('middle');
+            return hoverInfoNodes;
+        }
+
+        function assertElemInside(elem, container, msg) {
+            var elemBB = elem.getBoundingClientRect();
+            var contBB = container.getBoundingClientRect();
+            expect(contBB.left < elemBB.left &&
+              contBB.right > elemBB.right &&
+              contBB.top < elemBB.top &&
+              contBB.bottom > elemBB.bottom).toBe(true, msg);
+        }
+
+        function assertElemRightTo(elem, refElem, msg) {
+            var elemBB = elem.getBoundingClientRect();
+            var refElemBB = refElem.getBoundingClientRect();
+            expect(elemBB.left >= refElemBB.right).toBe(true, msg);
+        }
+
+        function assertTopsAligned(elem1, elem2, msg) {
+            var elem1BB = elem1.getBoundingClientRect();
+            var elem2BB = elem2.getBoundingClientRect();
+
+            // Hint: toBeWithin tolerance is exclusive, hence a
+            // diff of exactly 1 would fail the test
+            var tolerance = 1.1;
+            expect(elem1BB.top - elem2BB.top).toBeWithin(0, tolerance, msg);
+        }
+
+        it('renders labels inside boxes', function() {
+            _hover(gd, 300, 150);
+
+            var nodes = ensureCentered(centeredHoverInfoNodes());
+            assertElemInside(nodes.primaryText, nodes.primaryBox, 'Primary text inside box');
+            assertElemInside(nodes.secondaryText, nodes.secondaryBox, 'Secondary text inside box');
+        });
+
+        it('renders secondary info box right to primary info box', function() {
+            _hover(gd, 300, 150);
+
+            var nodes = ensureCentered(centeredHoverInfoNodes());
+            assertElemRightTo(nodes.secondaryBox, nodes.primaryBox, 'Secondary box right to primary box');
+            assertTopsAligned(nodes.secondaryBox, nodes.primaryBox, 'Top edges of primary and secondary boxes aligned');
+        });
+    });
 });
 
 describe('hover info on stacked subplots', function() {