diff --git a/lib/ieee754.g b/lib/ieee754.g
index ae508e8d89..e3e9b4967b 100644
--- a/lib/ieee754.g
+++ b/lib/ieee754.g
@@ -42,25 +42,11 @@ INSTALLFLOATCREATOR("for IsIEEE754FloatRep and string",
     return MACFLOAT_STRING(s);
 end);
 
-#############################################################################
-##
-#M  String( x ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  for macfloats
-##
-BindGlobal("MACFLOAT_STRING_DOTTIFY", function(s)
-    local p;
-    if '.' in s or Intersection(s,"0123456789")=[] then return s; fi;
-    for p in [1..Length(s)] do
-        if not s[p] in "+-0123456789" then p := p-1; break; fi;
-    od;
-    Add(s,'.',p+1);
-    return s;
-end);    
-
 InstallMethod( String, "for macfloats", [ IsIEEE754FloatRep ],
-        f->MACFLOAT_STRING_DOTTIFY(STRING_DIGITS_MACFLOAT(FLOAT.DECIMAL_DIG,f)));
+        f->STRING_DIGITS_MACFLOAT(FLOAT.DECIMAL_DIG,f));
 
 InstallMethod( ViewString, "for macfloats", [ IsIEEE754FloatRep ],
-        f->MACFLOAT_STRING_DOTTIFY(STRING_DIGITS_MACFLOAT(FLOAT.VIEW_DIG,f)));
+        f->STRING_DIGITS_MACFLOAT(FLOAT.VIEW_DIG,f));
 
 #############################################################################
 ##
diff --git a/src/macfloat.c b/src/macfloat.c
index bb88c308e5..60abfb089b 100644
--- a/src/macfloat.c
+++ b/src/macfloat.c
@@ -55,7 +55,8 @@ static Obj TypeMacfloat(Obj val)
 
 // helper function for printing a "decimal" representation of a macfloat
 // into a buffer.
-static void PrintMacfloatToBuf(char *buf, size_t bufsize, Double val, int precision)
+static void
+PrintMacfloatToBuf(char * buf, size_t bufsize, Double val, int precision)
 {
     // handle printing of NaN and infinities ourselves, to ensure
     // they are printed uniformly across all platforms
@@ -70,6 +71,24 @@ static void PrintMacfloatToBuf(char *buf, size_t bufsize, Double val, int precis
     }
     else {
         snprintf(buf, bufsize, "%.*" PRINTFFORMAT, precision, val);
+        // check if a period is in the output; this is not always the case,
+        // e.g. if the value is an integer
+        if (strchr(buf, '.'))
+            return;    // everything is fine
+        // we need to insert a '.'; either at the end, or before an exponent
+        // (e.g. "7e10" -> "7.e10"). For this we need 1 extra byte of storage,
+        // plus of course 1 byte for the string terminator; check if the
+        // buffer is big enough
+        if (strlen(buf) + 2 <= bufsize) {
+            char * loc = strchr(buf, 'e');
+            if (loc) {
+                memmove(loc + 1, loc, strlen(loc) + 1);
+                loc[0] = '.';
+            }
+            else {
+                strxcat(buf, ".", bufsize);
+            }
+        }
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/tst/testinstall/float.tst b/tst/testinstall/float.tst
index 523a448772..821dc658bf 100644
--- a/tst/testinstall/float.tst
+++ b/tst/testinstall/float.tst
@@ -130,9 +130,9 @@ gap> l := [ 0.0, -0.0, 1.0, Sqrt(2.0), posinf, neginf, nan ];
 gap> ViewObj(l); Print("\n");
 [ 0., -0., 1., 1.41421, inf, -inf, nan ]
 gap> PrintObj(l); Print("\n");
-[ 0, -0, 1, 1.414213562373095, inf, -inf, nan ]
+[ 0., -0., 1., 1.414213562373095, inf, -inf, nan ]
 gap> Display(l);
-[ 0, -0, 1, 1.414213562373095, inf, -inf, nan ]
+[ 0., -0., 1., 1.414213562373095, inf, -inf, nan ]
 
 #
 #
diff --git a/tst/testinstall/syntaxtree.tst b/tst/testinstall/syntaxtree.tst
index 9f29ba3242..fb8f728a64 100644
--- a/tst/testinstall/syntaxtree.tst
+++ b/tst/testinstall/syntaxtree.tst
@@ -2855,7 +2855,7 @@ rec(
       statements := [ rec(
               obj := rec(
                   type := "T_FLOAT_EXPR_EAGER",
-                  value := 1 ),
+                  value := 1. ),
               type := "T_RETURN_OBJ" ) ],
       type := "T_SEQ_STAT" ),
   type := "T_FUNC_EXPR",