Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, on Thursday posted $17.4 billion in operating profit in the third quarter – an annual increase of more than 50% and significantly higher than expectations. And, the anticipates a noticeable increase in operating profit in the current quarter. The stock, which had taken a heavy hit in regular trading, increased by around 6% in after-hours US trading. In its cloud division, AWS, the operating profit rose by nearly 50% to $10.4 billion, keeping this segment as a top earner for the Seattle-based company. Revenue in this segment increased by almost a fif…