diff --git a/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/Matrices.scala b/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/Matrices.scala
index c02ba426fcc3a..5439b3acc30d4 100644
--- a/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/Matrices.scala
+++ b/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/Matrices.scala
@@ -550,7 +550,22 @@ class SparseMatrix @Since("1.3.0") (
       values: Array[Double]) = this(numRows, numCols, colPtrs, rowIndices, values, false)
 
   override def equals(o: Any): Boolean = o match {
-    case m: Matrix => toBreeze == m.toBreeze
+    case m : Matrix =>
+      if (this.numRows != m.numRows || this.numCols != m.numCols) return false
+      if (this.numNonzeros != m.numNonzeros) return false
+      val activeIterator = toBreeze.activeIterator
+      m match {
+        case s: SparseMatrix =>
+          val filterIter = s.toBreeze.activeIterator.withFilter(_._2 != 0.0)
+          val currFilterIter = activeIterator.withFilter(_._2 != 0.0)
+          filterIter.sameElements(currFilterIter)
+        case d: DenseMatrix =>
+          while(activeIterator.hasNext){
+            val next = activeIterator.next()
+            if(d.apply(next._1._1, next._1._2) != next._2) return false
+          }
+          true
+      }
     case _ => false
   }
 
diff --git a/mllib/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/MatricesSuite.scala b/mllib/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/MatricesSuite.scala
index bfd6d5495f5e0..33b54813f425e 100644
--- a/mllib/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/MatricesSuite.scala
+++ b/mllib/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/MatricesSuite.scala
@@ -82,6 +82,9 @@ class MatricesSuite extends SparkFunSuite {
     val dm2 = Matrices.dense(2, 2, Array(0.0, 2.0, 1.0, 3.0))
     assert(dm1 === dm2.transpose)
 
+    val dmz = Matrices.dense(2, 2, Array(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0))
+    assert(dmz === dmz.transpose)
+
     val sm1 = dm1.asInstanceOf[DenseMatrix].toSparse
     assert(sm1 === sm1)
     assert(sm1 === dm1)
@@ -90,6 +93,31 @@ class MatricesSuite extends SparkFunSuite {
     val sm2 = dm2.asInstanceOf[DenseMatrix].toSparse
     assert(sm1 === sm2.transpose)
     assert(sm1 === dm2.transpose)
+
+    val smz = dmz.asInstanceOf[DenseMatrix].toSparse
+    val sm2z = dm2.asInstanceOf[DenseMatrix].toSparse
+    sm2z(0,1) = 0.0
+    sm2z(1,0) = 0.0
+    sm2z(1,1) = 0.0
+    assert(smz === sm2z)
+    assert(smz === dmz)
+    assert(sm2z === dmz)
+    assert(sm2z === smz)
+    val dm3 = Matrices.dense(3, 3, Array(1.0, 0.0, 4.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 3.0, 0.0, 1.0))
+    val sm3 = dm3.asInstanceOf[DenseMatrix].toSparse
+    assert(sm3 === sm3)
+    assert(sm3 === dm3)
+    assert(sm3 !== sm3.transpose)
+
+    val sm3explicit = Matrices.sparse(3, 3, colPtrs = Array(0, 3, 6, 9),
+      rowIndices = Array(0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2), values = dm3.toArray)
+    assert(sm3 === sm3explicit)
+
+    val dmEye = Matrices.eye(10)
+    val smEye = Matrices.speye(10)
+    assert(smEye === smEye)
+    assert(smEye === dmEye)
+    assert(smEye === smEye.transpose)
   }
 
   test("matrix copies are deep copies") {